Bloody Mary
by the inc pot
Summary: AU: The mistakes of an adjusting debutante can take on daunting consequences when her father’s actions force her into the bed of none other then Lucifer’s reincarnation himself. PDLD & a socialite story
1. Mary, Mary Magdalene

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot. WB and the like own Gilmore Girls, and the characters.

Summary: AU: The mistakes of an adjusting debutante can take on daunting consequences when her father's actions force her into the bed of none other then Lucifer's reincarnation himself. PDLD & a socialite story

Author's Note: I am still deciding how far this will go, what will happen, and how it will happen. But what I do know, is that this will undoubtedly become a PDLD, and it's a socialite story, meaning – that well, Rory Gilmore "Hayden" has money, likes having money, and… will undoubtedly spend her money. Haha..

It was more then pure desire that brought her to his mansion the night of his nineteenth birthday. It was need, and lust, and just pure hatred for her father. She wanted to spite him. The only thing that was sure to piss her father off, was beginning to light a flame to him, holding him high on a pedestal as other females had done for him most likely every night of his teenage life. Her father would not be pleased.

She was ready to force a fall into his charms. He was back, and she was going to give him a welcome home he would never forget. She remembered sitting at dinner while her parents went over the parties and dinners they would have to attend within the month. His party was mentioned by her mother, and then as quickly as it was mentioned, it was discarded by her father.

Her parents _married_ while he was gone. She was now a socialite, and not so pure and innocent. She was no longer his Mary.

Dean hadn't lasted as Rory took part in the life that all of Hartford had expected her to partake in. Jess had lasted a few months, succeeding in taking her innocence plenty of times before he left without saying goodbye. Her mother and she were no longer the small town girls that charmed the men in their lives. They were Hartford women, born and raised to become perfect trophy wives.

These women were nothing of the sort. They masked their playfulness, and took on cold, veiled personalities. They were fulfilling their duties.

It didn't take long for one of the maids to open the door. She walked inside, handing the maid a present, which she took to put on the table that was already overflowing with gifts from other elitist children. She looked around, her gaze landing on Paris standing in the corner. She watched as Paris looked down at her watch, groan, and tap her foot impatiently.

But Paris would be here for another hour and a half. Rory Gilmore, who hadn't taken on her father's last name when he married her mother, scanned the party that was a combination of a birthday and welcome home party. He would be staying here for the summer before he started his sophomore year at Princeton, and Rory thought it best that she welcomed him home in person. After tonight, she'd be in Europe for the summer with her grandmother, and then would be straight off to Yale to start her sophomore year as well.

"Mary," someone said into her ear from behind her. Rory turned, and looked upwards to meet the pale blue eyes that belonged to her caller. She smirked lightly, tilting her head to the side.

"Bible boy," she said, almost teasingly as she pressed her hands to his shoulders, and pushed him from the room, into a quieter room with quite a few people making out in it. "Well… okay, so I thought this room would at least be empty. I want to talk to you… in private. It's important."

Tristan scanned Rory's face, begging for a sign, or trace of what she wanted to talk about. He found that her eyes gave nothing away, so he nodded curtly, taking a hold of her hand, surprised she didn't object. He led her from the room, and through the core of the party towards the large staircase in the foyer, from which she'd emerged into the party from not even five minutes ago.

Rory let Tristan drag her up the stairs and down a few halls. "God," she whined, flexing her hand inside of Tristan's, "Do you have enough hallways? We've been down eight!"

"It's a big house, Mary," Tristan replied, pushing open a door, and pulling her through.

"Oh wow, definitely not how I pictured your bedroom, Tristan." Rory said, letting her hand still rest inside Tristan's. "Welcome home, and happy birthday."

"Thanks," he said slowly, dropping her hand before running both of his hands through his hair, kicking his door shut with his foot. "So what did you need to talk about?"

"I broke up with Dean."

"Bagboy didn't take it to well, did he?"

"Mmm… no." Rory said, rubbing her forehead. "And I dated Jess…. And that didn't work out well either…" she said, cracking her fingers out of boredom. "I moved to Hartford."

Tristan raised his eyebrows in mock surprise, "Really? I hadn't heard."

Rory shook her head, pulling her coat off, and tossing it to the ground, not bothering to drape it over the chair that was seven feet away, "Yes. My parents got married a few months after you left Junior year."

"Congratulations."

"My mom's elated.."

"That's great."

Rory nodded, before crossing her arms over her chest, looking around Tristan's room before she started walking towards doors that Rory presumed led to a terrace. "I am now another rich girl."

Tristan smirked, and watched Rory's back, before following her out on to the terrace. "So Mary isn't a Mary anymore?"

Rory smirked, shaking her head, "I lack the pureness and innocence, yes," Rory said, turning to look at him, while walking backwards onto his terrace. She shivered slightly at the unusually cold late June breeze, suddenly wishing she hadn't taken her coat off.

Tristan's eyes widened at her immediate answer that was lacking a blush, "So what'd you need to talk about?"

"I'm glad you're home."

"What? Why?"

Rory shrugged slightly, looking at him, while holding herself with her own arms, before looking over the gardens beneath them. "I missed you." She said, ignoring the sickness in her stomach of how false that statement truly was.

Tristan smirked, stepping forward, pinning her against the railing of his terrace with arms on either side of her. "I missed you too, Mary _Magdalene_." He said, his warm breath sending another shiver throughout Rory as it hit her neck. "So… what was the meaning behind this impromptu one on one time?"

"I wanted to welcome you home."

"And you did."

"No I didn't." Rory shook her head.

"Yes, you said happy birthday and welcome home."

"I didn't give you my present."

"I saw you give it to the maid."

"No, I didn't give you my present Tristan…" Rory said slowly, trying to make him understand without coming out and bluntly saying it.

Tristan looked at her for a moment, realization coming over him. "Rory…" he said seriously.

"Tristan." She imitated.

"You want to have…?"

"Add it to your conquest jar." Rory muttered, unfolding her arms, wrapping them around the middle of his chest. She finally realized how much he towered over her. She was five six, and she guessed that Tristan had to be at least be five eleven.

Tristan groaned, pressing himself into Rory, effectively making the railing of the terrace press into her back. He caught her eyes, and stared straight back into them, before running his hands up and down her sides, making sure to caress the sides of her breasts before holding her waist in his hands. "You want to?"

Rory nodded, pausing before pressing kisses to his neck, "Do you?"

"Do you need to ask?"

"No," Rory laughed, pushing him forward to press him against the side of his own home. It didn't seem to sit well with him, because in one swift motion, he was the one pinning her against the side of his house. She moaned quietly, something that just made a bulge form in his dress pants.

Tristan watched her for a moment, before crushing his lips against hers, wanting to get on with his night's activities so he could repeat them later on. He heard her groan against his mouth, and he immediately darted his tongue out of his mouth, licking her lower lip, begging, and pleading for access. Rory obliged him, and soon their tongues were lost in a full out war for control.

Tristan explored the inside of her mouth, his hands hiking up the skirt of her dress. He caressed her thigh as they kissed, and groaned when he felt her hands trail down his chest, skimming over the bulge in his pants, only making it grow more. He moved his hand from her thigh, to her side, unzipping the zipper that was on the side of her dress, letting her dress flail open, before carrying her inside in his arms, kicking shut the terrace door behind them.

"Rory," Tristan groaned when she started to unbutton his dress shirt, after effectively tossing his tie to the side. He was having trouble believing Rory was about to be the first girl he'd ever slept with in his bed. Sure, he'd slept with girls inside his house before, but he had never recorded them as a conquest in his own bed. He'd used the guest rooms for that, but Rory was different.

He was soon shirtless, and felt Rory trail kisses over his collar bone. He'd forgotten her dress was unzipped but still not off. Letting her feet grace the floor, he let go of her, before going to his knees, and hiking the skirt of her dress up as he started to stand, pulling her dress off. His jaw dropped when the black fabric was left as a useless piece of cloth on his floor. His former Mary wasn't wearing a bra? Somehow, he'd never thought he'd ever see her bare chest, even if they were being intimate. He'd imagined caressing them, seeing Rory in all her glory as she mounted him like a horse in the wee hours of the morning after spending a night of intimacy together, to go for another round.

But somehow, he never though he'd see the day when he would see her breasts. He groaned, knowing that he wouldn't object to taking Rory more then once tonight. "God," he groaned when he pulled her flush against him, feeling her naked chest against his own.

Rory moaned slightly, her nipples becoming hard from the chilly air that had snuck into Tristan's room in the minutes they'd left the door open while talking on the terrace. She quickly pulled his belt off, letting it drop to the floor like a coiled snake. She quickly unbuttoned his pants, and unzipped them, pulling them down with her hands, leaving the two young adults clad in only undergarments. Looking up at him, and meeting his gaze, she smirked, before rubbing him through his boxers, which seemed to agree with him as he let out a low, guttural groan. She felt his cock harden through is boxers, and she pulled them down to his ankles, while she took residence on his floor on her knees in front of him.

His eyes looked at her, half shocked at her forwardness, and half glad she wasn't being shy with him right now. He decided that he needed the foreplay as her soft, somewhat experienced mouth glided over his root. He whimpered in pleasure, twisting his hands in her chestnut brown hair, thrusting his hips to meet her mouth as her tongue glided over him, pleasing him. Rory smirked, rolling her tongue around his shaft. She pulled her mouth away, nipping at his head with her front teeth. She felt Tristan squirm, so she rose to her feet, before pressing herself against him.

"Definitely… not a Mary," he groaned, untying the strings of her panties, letting them fall away, discarded along with the rest of their clothes. He pushed her towards his bed, letting her fall, before mounting atop of her, his eyes and hands memorizing every inch of her. "I need… this.." he said, breathily, while reaching towards his nightstand, his eyes never leaving her body. "I want… this… I can't… foreplay… needs to wait…" he groaned, ripping open the condom, and rolling it over his rock hard cock.

Rory pulled herself fully onto his king sized bed, and Tristan readily followed atop of her. He slipped his hands between her legs, parting them quickly, giving a quick brush of his hands over her clitoris. She moaned, raising her hips to meet his hands, before he replaced his hands with his latex covered steal. He didn't enter her right away, he gently, and lustily placed his head at her entrance, letting her squirm beneath him, before he jammed his entire length inside of her, hearing her scream at the pleasure that erupted inside her. He groaned, enjoying the semi-tightness she was encasing his steal with.

He stilled, not thrusting inside of her just yet, waiting for her to get used to what if felt like to take him whole. She moaned at the pleasure that was escalating and escalating within in a few minutes, before she pressed her hips against his, signaling she wanted him to start with his thrusting.

He knew, that even if she didn't want to continue with their intimacy that he would go ahead and finish even if she was just a dead lay. He needed to erupt, to let her feel, and need sex. He gratefully thrust inside of her repeatedly, hitting her g spot within moments of the penetration. She moaned, and groaned beneath him, and that only made him want her more.

Tristan Dugrey finally nailed the Mary. The virgin everyone in Chilton had thought her to be. They couldn't have been more wrong. He couldn't have been more grateful for the tightness she still had. He'd gotten used to the loose, and vacant feel of girls. Rory's less experienced canal pleased him, making the suction that he felt even better. He groaned, and rolled, gripping Rory's hips, so she could ride him like she would a horse.

He heard her whimper, but he quickly replaced his concern in a moment with need, and lust. He remembered that he thought she was a virgin up until minutes ago, and decided to take it easier on her then he would any other girl. _The whores_, he thought scathingly. Rory was definitely not another one of those whores.

Rory rolled her hips in a circle, biting her lip, the taste of bitter blood overwhelming her mouth as she leaned down to kiss Tristan. She gripped his shoulders as she moved her hips forwards and backwards, feeling his length inside her the entire time. It was only a little painful, but she wanted it. The pleasure she was receiving outweighed the pain by astronomical amounts.

"Tristan," she moaned, her nails digging into his shoulders, arousing Tristan even more. "Oh god, Tris…" she screamed, straightening her back as she rode the waves of her orgasm out.

Tristan shuddered when he felt her hotness through the latex of his condom. He moaned, knowing that he was about to reach his peak. There was no turning back, now. He thrust upwards, greeting Rory's hips with his own, before moving back down, and thrusting again. Rory screamed, and Tristan was suddenly thankful that there was loud music downstairs, or he would be sure that someone would hear her scream.

This encounter would change his life for months. The visions of her under, and on top of him, letting him have his way with her would cause many wet dreams for him.

Tristan let himself go, before rolling to be on top of Rory again. He pulled out of her, quickly, removing his condom, and tossing it into the trashcan beside his bed.

"Ah god, Rory," he groaned into her neck, his hands caressing her thighs. "I don't even know what to call you anymore… Rory… Mary… Gilmore? Or… Hayden?"

"Rory's fine…" she said, sitting up, and combing a hand through her hair. "You're party is still going on."

"Mmm, so?"

"Let's go back down there."

"Why?"

"It's _your_ party."

"And I'm having a private party up here." He said, sitting up beside her, watching her from the corner of his eye. "You want to go down there, don't you?"

"No… I want to go home," she stifled a yawn, by bringing her hand to her mouth. "I'm leaving for Europe tomorrow morning."

"So that's it?"

"What's it?"

"You just come here, and have sex and then you up and leave?"

"Well… yeah," Rory said slowly, "I mean… you _specialize_ in this type of thing. I mean, if it were a sport, you'd be captain of the team!"

"You've changed."

"Tell me about it," Rory groaned, rolling off of his bed, standing in the middle of his room in all her glory. Tristan's eyes raked over her body, memorizing it before she pulled her dress over her head, zipping the zipper. "Keep my panties," she said with a smile, "Another set to add to the collection, Bible Boy."

Tristan smirked, and tilted his head to the side, "I have to say, Gilmore," he started, scratching the back of his neck, "That I like this side of you."

"Better then the Mary side?" she asked, pulling on her shoes. She couldn't for the life of her remember kicking them off.

"Mehhh…. It's a tie."

Rory nodded, crawling back onto his bed, kneeling before him, pressing her lips against his. It was prolonged more then a minute when Tristan reacquainted himself with the inside of her mouth. He rolled his hand over her back, resting it right above the small of her back before Rory pulled away. "Happy birthday…" she said, climbing back off his bed, picking up her jacket that lay in front of the door. She opened it, looking back over her shoulder at him, "Oh… and welcome home." Smirking, she walked out, closing the door with a snap behind her.

She was _not_ Tristan Dugrey's Mary any more.


	2. Personal Tour Guides

Author Note: There seems to be some confusion of the pairing in this story. I know Tristan is in the limelight _now_, but in the end, it will be a PDLD. A Finn & Rory story. Punch-Drunk-Love-Duo. And I have bumped the rating up to M for mature content, because well, it was suggested and I do agree that this fanfic will be a little racy.

I'm writing a PDLD, because I adore and love this pairing, and I really don't think there's to many PDLD's out there worth reading – I mean, yes, there's loads, but they're all one shots – or happy. This story will be evolving around Rory's defiance of her father, her parents divorce, Yale, having this sordid affair, and on top of it all, being swept off her feet by our favorite Australian. I think this will be a worth-while read, and I'm just hoping that many people will read this. So shout the name of this fanfic off of roof-tops, force it onto people, I don't care. I'm just doing this because I love to write, and I love the feeling I get when I wake up in the morning, or come home from school and see that I have even just one new review. It's a natural high.

**Chapter Two: **Personal Tour-Guides

Europe with her grandmother proved to be an interesting adventure within itself. They'd traveled to the Marseille harbor at the south of France , sailed across the Mediterranean sea, and visited the tip of Africa, before taking another boat to Sicily to see the grape orchards. She'd bathed in the glory that was once ancient Greece, discovered the lengths of how true Shakespeare was when he said Italy was more then a dream, but a breathtaking story within itself, waiting to unfold, and have the world know her story. She'd eaten Belgium waffles in Belgium, daydreamed while crossing the English Channel from Calais, France, to England.

And every sight she had seen in those short two months, would be long lived in her memory.

When Rory returned home three days before she was off to Yale for her second year, she found her mother sitting on the front steps, grasping a cup of coffee in her hands. She smiled when she saw her mother's face light up when Rory stepped out of her white Range Rover.

"Rory!" Lorelei cried, jumping up, and running to her daughter in greeting, careful not to spill her beloved drink. "Ah, fruit of my loins! My life's blood! The child who I have given my name too!"

"Mom," Rory said, "How are you? How have you been?"

Lorelei let out an aggravated sigh, "I _would_ be better if your father stayed home a bit more."

Rory's face fell when her father was mentioned, but she quickly masked her repulsion for her father when the maid came out of the mansion to carry her bags inside. "I've missed you, mommy.." Rory said, hugging her mother again.

"No need to get so clingy!" Lorelei laughed, taking a hold of her daughter's hand, leading her inside. "Movie night. I thought we'd start with the classics: Casablanca, an Affair to Remember, and _of course_ Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory."

"Of course." Rory said nodding.

"Now, I had taken it upon myself to go to the store and stack up on all possible junk food items: Marshmallows, Red Vines, Netcos, Reese's Cups, Snickers, Hot Tamales, Pop Corn with extra butter, and just because I know Luke would have a heart attack if he knew what we were eating, and he couldn't lecture us, I bought carrot sticks!"

"Carrots? Gross." Rory shuddered, following her mother up the stairs towards their movie room.

"Yes well, it was either something orange, or something green, and green would have definitely clashed with the room."

"Definitely."

---&---

Halfway through their second movie, An Affair to Remember, the maid, Jessica, came into the room and announced that there was a phone call for Rory. Rory groaned, and stood up, walking to the opposite side of the movie room, picking up the phone receiver off of the hook.

"Hello?" she asked, irked with this person calling during her and her mother's bonding time.

"Mary, Mary, Mary _Magdalene_," came the voice over the phone. Rory rolled her eyes and began to inspect her finger nails, "I was hoping for a repeat of that night in June."

"Which one was that again?" Rory asked, deciding to play along with him.

Tristan's jaw dropped on the other side of the phone, and he soon found himself wanting a repeat of that night even more. "The one where I made every one of your dreams come true."

"Oooh! Is this Jason?"

"Rory," Tristan half warned, half pleaded, "What do you say? I come over, we make a little mischief and I leave?"

"As tempting as that sounds, Lucifer," Rory said, turning to look at her mom, mouthing 'sorry', "I'd much rather spend the night with my mother. Night, night."

Rory placed the phone back down on the cradle, before regaining her seat next to Lorelei. She smiled at her mother, before leaning forward and popping three Hot Tamales in her mouth. "What?"

"Lucifer?"

"Tristan."

"Brad Pitt?"

"Bible boy." Rory confirmed, pressing play on the remote control, getting ready to mock the up coming scene where Nickie discovers the painting in his love's apartment at the end of the movie. "Mom…" Rory started slowly.

"Hmn?"

"I'm tired.."

"It's ten!"

"Jet lag."

"Ah, of course. See you in the morning, babe."

---&---

His house was exactly as Rory remembered it. Tall, daunting, and cold. Her eyes trailed over the green ivy vine that crawled over the cold gray stone that the manor was built with. She bit her lip, bringing her fist to knock on his door. It looked like a dark stained oak, just as daunting, and wreaking of importance as the rest of his manor.

She wanted this. She wanted to kick her school year off with a bang. _Literally._

Clutching the keys to her Range Rover even tighter in the palm of her left hand, she knocked with her right. She didn't want to ring the doorbell. She wanted her presence to be unexpected. She didn't want him to know she was there. She was a surprise.

The door pulled open suddenly, and Rory jumped back. She had been very jumpy lately, and she didn't understand why. "Hi…" Rory said, unsurely, biting the left corner of her bottom lip. "Is Tristan home?"

The maid nodded, and pulled the door open, allowing Rory to enter. The maid helped Rory pull out of her jacket. "He's in his room, miss." She said, carrying Rory's coat over her arm, motioning towards the stairs.

"Could you show me?"

The maid nodded, and walked towards the stairs. Rory obediently followed her, ignoring the paintings that adorned the walls. She ignored the smell of cigars seeping under the door from one of the rooms, and the sounds of Frank Sinatra from another. All she could focus on was why she was here. Was it for closure? A good time? Why _was_ she here?

They stopped abruptly in front of a door Rory barely recognized as Tristan's. The maid knocked, "Master Tristan…"

"Come in," he called. The maid opened the door, and Rory stood to the side, hoping to give Tristan a surprise.

"You have a visitor."

"Send them in." he said, looking back down at his desk, to the papers he was looking over were located.

The maid nodded, taking a backwards step, allowing Rory to step in front of her, and into the doorway of Tristan's room. "Some room you've got here," she said coolly, leaning against his door frame, "Although," she said, smirking once he looked up, taking the sight of her in, "I think it would be so much better if you had a Yale poster hanging above your bed."

"Do you now?

"Mmm.."

Tristan pushed himself out of his chair, and pushed it in, before walking towards, placing his hands in his pockets. "So what brings you here, Mary?"

"Oh you know," she said.

"Do I know?"

Rory rose her eyebrows, and pushed herself off of the door frame and fully into his room, looking around. "I don't even remember your room," she said, looking over her shoulder at him, watching him close the door. "All I remember is your terrace and your bed."

"You can get reacquainted with my bed, Mary."

"Can I now?"

"Mhmm," he said, snaking an arm around her waist from behind, bringing his chest flush against her back as he pressed butterfly kisses down her neck, shoving her hair out of the way, "I'll even be your personal tour guide."

Rory grinned, twirling herself around in his arms to face him, placing a gentle kiss against his lips. "And is this tour going to begin anytime soon?"

"Just say the words, Mary."

"Give me a tour, Bible Boy."


	3. Three Strikes, You're Out

Author Note: I know a few of you all are wishing this will become an ultimate Trory – but it won't. I'm not saying there wont be any Trory action in it whatsoever, because obviously at the moment it's a Trory, but in the end, it will be a PDLD. Finn & Rory. I'm not entirely sure yet how far this will go, but I can tell you that it's a Lorelai & Luke fanfic also, so --- it'll be a while until the ending.

I'd stayed tuned – I have a lot of things that will be going on.

**Chapter Three: **Three Strikes, You're Out

Rory Gilmore had never succeeded in pissing her father off more. Not only had he found out from his Business Nemesis, Tristan Herrick DuGray Sr., that his daughter was having some sort of twisted love affair with the DuGray heir, but the affair had been happening for months.

Since the party he strictly told her not to attend.

Rory Gilmore had changed over the years since his marriage to her mother. She'd become cold, distant, and different. She wasn't as talkative as she used to be, and he could only assume the worst when she refused to take his last name.

Hell, even his own wife refused to take on his name. "_It's to keep the Gilmore legacy going._" She'd told him. Lorelei Gilmore didn't want the Gilmore's to die out. His daughter hardly even talked to him anymore, and that's what angered him most.

He didn't know what he did wrong. Well, he did. But Rory shouldn't know what was going on. She would never know what was going on.

"Lorelei Leigh Gilmore!" he yelled from the door of his office, "Get in here, _now_!"

Christopher Hayden had gotten home the previous night, and found his wife tucked away safely in bed, and his daughter nowhere to be found. No note, and not a word left with any of the staff. She had disappeared, and Christopher only expected the worse.

And that's when the funny thing happened. He had checked his answering machine in his office, to come across a very interesting memo. His daughter, his life's blood, had made one of the best impressions on the DuGray family's heir.

Strike one.

"What?" Rory asked, peaking her head into her father's office.

"Where were you last night?"

"Out."

"Rory."

"Yes?"

"Where were you really?" Christopher asked, opening a bottle of aspirin and putting two into the palm of his hands, only to pop them into his mouth, drowning them with a swig of Scotch.

"You don't take aspirin with alcohol." Rory warned, leaning against the doorframe of her father's office, "And I was really out."

"Don't lie to me, Rory."

"Why do you care where I was anyway?"

Strike two.

"Because you weren't here!"

"I'm almost twenty! God, you act like you're some holy, Bible figure! Well here's a news flash! You're not!"

Strike three.

"I'm your father! I'm allowed to be pissed off my nineteen year old daughter is off screwing the DuGray heir!"

"Oh, go to hell. You don't care! This only makes you look bad! It's not hurting the rest of us!"

"What happened to you, Rory? You were so nice before!"

"You want to know what's wrong with me, Christopher?" Rory snapped, walking forward, and lifting a vase off the table, pulling a key into her hand. "This is what's wrong!" She yelled, walking to a wooden filing cabinet on the other side of his room next to his Brandy cabinet. She slid the key into the slot, and opened it, pulling the drawer out. "So how's Sherry, dad?" She asked, tilting her head, "Or better yet… How's Georgia? Or wait," Rory laughed bitterly, "your marriage to Sherry? How's that Christopher _Lyon_?"

She picked up the files, and held them to her chest, "You're not even my dad, as far as I'm concerned. Who needs blood relation?" She crossed her arms, soaking in the horrified look on her _father's_ face, before turning on her heels, "I'm telling mom."

Rory slammed the door closed, and quickly hurried down the stairs, thankful for having crammed her keys into her sweater pocket before she went into her father's office. She opened the front door, and slammed it closed behind her, shaking it on its hinges.

Her mother would know the secrets that her beloved Christopher had kept from her.

You're out.

---&---

"I'm leaving for Yale earlier," Rory declared after she broke the news to her mother about her father's infidelity, "I don't want to be around him, mom."

Lorelei Gilmore held her stomach, fearing that she would empty its contents from the shock of the entire thing. She sat in the big red chair in her office at the Dragonfly Inn, shaking her head, letting silent, but hurtful tears flow over her apple cheeks and seep into the corners of her mouth. She sighed, and straightened the papers in her hands, shaking her head.

"I should have known better, Rory," she said, sniffling, "I should have known better!"

Rory stood up, and walked around the desk, enveloping her mother into a hug. Kissing her mother's forehead, she sighed, "I'm sorry."

"Yeah," Lorelei said, nodding her head, "Me too."

"Come to Yale with me, mom," Rory said, tilting her head, and crossing her arms over her chest, "We can have a girl's night."

"Rory, I can't," Lorelei sighed, rubbing her forehead with her hand. "I need to go to the lawyer's office and get divorce papers." Biting her lip, she watched her daughters face fall. "I'll see you tomorrow, though. I'll even get Luke to come with me."

Rory nodded, hugging her mother again, "I'll see you tomorrow."

---&---

"Luke," Lorelei called, walking into the diner that she had once spent entire days in, begging and pleading for coffee, "Luke?"

"Lorelai?" Luke asked, coming down from the stairs behind the curtain at the opposite side of the diner, "what are you doing here?"

Lorelai plopped down onto one of the stools at the counter, staring at the specials board that she'd memorized by heart years ago. He'd never changed it. _He'd_ never changed. "I'm divorcing Chris." She said, dropping the bomb as quickly as it had been dropped upon her.

Luke frowned, crossing the diner and plucking a coffee cup off of a shelf, before pouring hot, black coffee into it, placing it in front of her. "I'm sorry," he set the coffee pot down on the counter, and took another cup off the shelf and pour hot water into it, before getting a tea bag and sitting next to her. "What happened?"

Lorelai laid her head on his shoulder, and started to cry, her hands grasping a hold of the coffee cup, "He… he cheated on me, Luke…" she whimpered, biting her lip, "He has another wife… another daughter… and, Rory told me… she showed me proof… Oh god, Luke," she sniffled, rubbing her eyes dry, before more tears flooded down her face.

"Stupid son of a bitch," he growled, slamming his tea cup down on the counter, splashing freshly made tea over everything within a two foot radius, "I'll kill him, Lore, I'll kill him with my own bare hands."

Lorelai sniffled, and shook her head, "He's not even worth it, Luke."

"He cheated on you, Lorelai! Jesus Christ, he has another wife and kid! He's going to hell – and I'm gonna make sure it's my foot that fu-- you know what? Diner's closed! Everyone out."

Luke stood and ushered every patron of the diner out of the door that had the bell over the top, flipping the sign closed when Kirk, always the last to leave, was out. Luke locked it, and turned back to Lorelai, shoving his hands in his pockets, unsure of what to do or say next. He watched her shoulders shudder while she cried, and he felt his entire heart that broke when she walked through that door only moments ago, break again.

"Lore?" he asked quietly, coming up behind her, and rubbing her back soothingly, "It'll be okay. If it was meant to be, it will be," he paused for a moment, taking in a deep breath, praying to the Gods that this was some sort of sign, "and evidently that wasn't supposed to be. Chris wasn't supposed to be with you."

Lorelai gave out a blubbering, and watery laugh, rubbing her eyes as dry as they possibly could go. "I'm a failure, Luke," she sniffled, "my marriage was supposed to _work_. I wasn't supposed to be the girl who married guy after guy. My _first_ marriage was supposed to work!"

Luke grunted, and crossed his arms over his chest, kicking at the diner floor with his feet, "Think of Chris as a trial marriage."

Lorelai turned around and gave him a disbelieving look, "He's Rory's father. He was the first man I ever slept with. Jesus Christ, Luke, he was _not_ a trial marriage! Ugh!" Standing up quickly, Lorelai swung her bag over her shoulder, "Forget I even came by, Luke." She snapped, striding across the diner in less then confident strides. Unlocking the door, she looked back at him, "And I thought you would be the one person who would understand… I mean, after all, didn't _your_ marriage fail?"

Shaking her head, Lorelai bit back another sob. She opened the door, and stepped out into the Stars Hollow daylight, letting the bell jingle as she slammed the door closed behind her.


	4. Members With Minds of Their Own

Authors Note: Thank you for all the reviews, and the week long wait for this chapter. I know it's a bit short, but hey, the point is I'm updating – because, in all honesty, I'm probably the worst updater the fanfiction world will ever see. I'm horrible at updating periodically. But here is the next chapter!

**Chapter Four:** Members With Minds of Their Own

"Luke couldn't make it, huh?" Rory asked, using her nail to slice open the duct tape that taped one of her boxes open.

Lorelai bit her lip, and shook her head, placing a few of Rory's books on the highest shelf, before reaching back down to place more books on the shelving unit, "Uh, no," she said, straightening '_A Fable_', before looking to Rory, "He was, uh, busy."

"Busy?"

"Yeah," Lorelai nodded, trying her best to smile brightly, "diner deliveries and the like." Rory nodded, seeming to like this answer better then the _he was busy one_.

"I'm hungry," Rory declared a few moments later, after effectively putting her mattress pad and sheets onto her twin bed, "but I don't know what I'm hungry for."

"You're hungry for some lovin'!" Lorelai laughed, grabbing her purse off of the end of Rory's bed, "C'mon. Let's go to the good coffee stand by the Library. I've missed Yale coffee."

Rory smiled, grabbing her bag, and swinging it over her shoulder, making sure to slip her cell phone in her jeans pocket. "I thought you'd forgotten about the good Yale coffee."

"Me?" she asked, aghast at such a suggestion, "Forget about _any_ type of coffee? I'm appalled, Ror. I'm wounded. My heart is breaking. You made my heart bleed!"

"I'm pretty sure hearts bleed naturally."

---&---

"Mmm," Lorelai chanted as soon as she took a long, savoring sip of her coffee, while she grasped it in both hands. "Three months without this coffee has been to long."

Rory nodded, putting her wallet back into her bag, before taking a sip from her own. "I miss Luke's coffee."

Lorelai tensed slightly, and nodded mutely.

The two girls walked through the Yale courtyards, participating in mindless banter, and girl talk. It was an hour after the girls where fresh out of coffee that there was a unanimous need to return to the dorm suite where the girls still needed to greet Rory's roommate.

It was decided amongst the mother and daughter duo that Rory's roommate needed to be fun, and pretty. Witty and have a good appetite. Good taste in music, and clothes, has an undying coffee addiction to match their own.

But, indeed, what they received for Rory's new roommate was someone they went way back with: Paris Gellar. Paris needed no embellishments: Paris was Paris.

---&---

"Hey, Rory!" Paris called one morning in the middle of November, "On your way home can you pick up some groceries? We're in dire need of asparagus."

"Asparagus?" Paris nodded, tapping her fingers against her doorframe, "Doyle wants vegetables?"

"Who says Doyle's here?"

"When have you ever eaten asparagus, Paris?"

"When I was in Spain with Nanny."

"And when exactly were you in Spain with nanny, Paris?"

"When I was twelve."

"How old are you know?"

"Twenty."

"Exactly," Rory said, grabbing her car keys, and placing her hand over the doorknob, "But since Doyle is the love of your _life_, I will pick up asparagus on my way home." Smiling slightly, she opened the door, "Bye Paris. Bye Doyle!"

"Bye!"

"Idiot," Rory mumbled to herself after closing the door to her dorm room.

---&---

"I'm getting sick of not seeing you everyday," Tristan declared after he had opened his dorm room door to see Rory standing there, a smirk intact on her face, and her head tilted to the side. "But what I'm curious about," he started, taking her by the elbow, and pulling her inside, before kicking his door closed, "Is why you drove all the way here. I would have driven to Yale."

Rory shrugged, "Paris is my roommate, Tristan." She laughed, and plopped down onto the common room sofa. "Where's your roommate?"

Tristan shrugged, "Flavor of the week: her place, and her treat."

Rory laughed again, and picked a stray thread on his sofa, "Hmn, so how are the girls handling you being off the market? And especially by a Yalie?"

"I don't think they know yet," he replied, sitting down, and laying his head in her lap.

Rory rose an eyebrow, and looked down at him, placing her palm at the crown of his head, "What?"

"I said I don't think they know."

"Know that you have a girlfriend? Or they know that you're still messing around with tramps?"

"Rory let's not do this."

"No, I think we _should_ do this. What don't they know, Tristan? We've been dating exclusively for two and a half months, Tristan! Since September third!"

"Rory – c'mon. Calm down!"

"What don't they know, Tristan?"

Sitting up, he looked at her, letting out a long drawn out sigh, "Rory do we seriously need to talk about this? I love you, okay? You're honestly the only one that means anything to me."

"You're sleeping with other girls?" Rory yelled, standing up, and staring down at him, shaking her head. "I can't believe you!"

"Jesus, Rory," Tristan snapped, rubbing his temples, "We don't go to the same school!"

"And that automatically puts a sticker on our relationship? 'Oh, I can sleep with that blonde over there, and Rory will never find out because she doesn't go to Princeton. She goes to _Yale_! Well tsk, tsk, to Rory, because Rory is soooo stupid to actually think I can keep it in my pants!' God, Tristan. What is your _problem_?"

"I'm a man, I have needs!"

"Ha!" Rory scoffed, crossing her arms roughly across her chest, "If you were a _man_, as you so proclaim, I do believe the little _man_ in your pants could have told you, you have a girlfriend back towards your home that loved you."

"You loved me?"

"Past tense. I don't love cheating bastards."

Tristan groaned, standing and walking in front of her, holding her shoulders in his hands. "Rory."

"No."

"Rory, come on."

"I don't want to hear you're bullshit, Tristan." She snapped, moving away from him, clutching her car keys in her hand, shaking her head. "Don't call me. Don't come to Yale. Don't go to my house. Don't talk to my mother, or my grandparents. Don't tell your parents, or your grandfather. As far as I'm concerned, you're nothing of importance."

"Rory, don't do this."

"No – Tristan. It's over. I'm done. I'm out. I don't want this."

"Rory – why are you doing this?"

"No, why did you sleep with other girls Tristan? Why did _you_ do this?"

Tristan stood there, staring at her, furrowing his brow, hoping for a quick, logical explanation. "I don't know…" he came up with after a few moments delay, "I just… I can't explain what I did. There's nothing right about it."

"You're right, Tristan, there was nothing right about it. I can't be a part of this anymore."

"Do you really need to be so drastic, Ror?" he asked, walking towards her, holding her elbow in his hand slightly, looking her directly in the eye, "I'm sorry… I wish I could take back what I did, but I can't."

Moving away from him again, Rory shook her head, "I can't… do it anymore… This was over before it even began, Tristan."


	5. Three Types of Asparagus

Author Note: And here is the next installment of this lovely fanfiction. If you hadn't noticed, I really only update on weekends, because that is the only time I can find to work on the stories – and I barely have enough time to make chapters very long – so I'm sorry.

But, here is the next chapter – perhaps I'll update again sometime this weekend – but for now this will have to do!

**Chapter Five: **Three Types of Asparagus

"Asparagus, asparagus…" Rory mumbled to herself, walking down the vegetable isle in the market twenty minutes away from Yale. "Lord, where is the asparagus?"

"Uh, love," someone tapped Rory on the shoulder, so she turned quickly, staring up at the intruder of her search.

"Hmn?"

"I think the asparagus is thatta way." He said, pointing towards the opposite end of the vegetable isle.

"Thanks," Rory replied setting off on her quest to get Doyle's asparagus.

"Doll," the man said after her, falling into stride next to her, "if this is being completely rude, I'm sorry—but do you even know what asparagus looks like?"

Rory rose an eyebrow, and looked up at him, biting her lip, and taking in his appearance. She felt even more miniscule next to him then when she was standing next to Tristan. At least with Tristan the top of her head at least reached the apples of his cheeks – but with this man, the top of her head barely rose over his shoulders. She sighed slightly, blinking and trying to remember back to when she was in fourth grade when her teacher had tried to feed her it.

"No…" she answered finally.

"Do you want some help, then, love?"

"Uh…" Rory bit her lip, and patted her cell phone through her jeans pocket, "I don---"

"If I'm coming off a bit forward, I'm sorry, doll."

"Oh, no. Not at all. You aren't coming off as forward.." She smiled slightly, and turned to look at the vegetables, before looking up to meet his gaze, "Oh! I'm Rory, Rory Gilmore."

He smirked, and took her hand into his, barely grazing his lower lip across the back of her hand, "And I, dove, am Phineas Lifvergren, but my mates call me Finn."

"Well it's nice to meet you… Finn."

"And I you, Ms. Rory, Rory Gilmore, and I you."

Rory smiled warmly, and grabbed one of the plastic bags that came off in sheets, and opened it, placing asparagus in it. "I don't know which kind Doyle likes."

Finn rose an eyebrow, and tilted his head, "Boyfriend, love?"

Rory shook her head, and laughed sadly, "My roommates boyfriend."

"Roommate? Where do you attend school?"

"I'm a sophomore at Yale." She answered him, placing a different type of asparagus in the bag. Finn grinned, and placed his hand at the small of her back, leaning over the vegetables, and grabbing a kind of asparagus from the back.

"He might like this, doll."

"Thanks."

He grinned, and shrugged, "No problem."

Rory twisted the bag closed, and looked at the grocery store floor of the vegetable isle, before looking up and meeting his gaze, "Well, Finn—I should probably get going…"

"Right…" he said, nodding, and pulling his cell phone out of his jacket pocket, "Perhaps I could catch your number, kitten? Take you out for a drink."

"Oh… I don't know."

"Just one drink – sometime? Here, I'll give you my number – and you can decide if, and when we get a drink."

"Alright, deal." She said, watching him put his phone away while she got out her own, and handed it to him. She watched him punch the slew of numbers in his phone number into her phone, and then proceed to type his name. "Thanks," she said, taking her phone back from him, and placing it in her jeans pocket. "I'll talk to you sometime soon."

He nodded, "Bye, love."

"Bye, Finn."

---&---

"Paris!" Rory called, walking into her dorm suite with a plastic bag filled with three different kinds of asparagus in her hand. "_Paris_!" she called again, placing her keys over the hook by the door.

"_What_?" came Paris' distressed voice from behind her bedroom door.

"Uh, I have the asparagus?"

"Leave it on the counter! Wait --," Rory heard the mumbling from the other side of the door, and shuddered slightly, "No! Doyle said asparagus needs to be refrigerated! So put it in the fridge!"

Rory sighed, throwing a glare towards Paris' bedroom, before tossing the green vegetables onto the kitchen, if you could call it one, counter. Kicking her shoes off, she walked towards the telephone and answering machine, expecting to see no new calls on her answering box.

Watching the red light flash back at her, she narrowed her eyes, picking up the dorm phone, and flipping through the caller I.D. to see that Tristan had called her three times. Groaning, she pressed the on button, and let her phone dial his number.

Ring. _Pick up, Tristan._ Ring. _I swear to frickin god—_Ring. _Ten bucks says he's with a gir—_"Hello?"

"Why'd you call me, Tristan?"

"Rory?"

"Why did you call me?"

"Because we need to talk about this!"

"What is there possibly to talk about? It's over! Go screw your favorite bed buddy! You're free!"

"Why are you so pissed off, Rory? This is nothing! You live hours away! I only see you on weekends! I get lonely!"

"Then use your right hand!"

"C'mon, Ror… can we try and make this work?"

Rory sighed, biting her lip, and focusing her eyes on the dorm door. Rubbing her temples, she sniffed slightly, "I can't… I can't trust you. It won't work."

"Rory--"

"No – Tristan… it hurts even more because you were there with me when my parents went through their divorce because my dad _cheated_… you… you know how much it hurt me… and you still went and did it."

"Rory… please."

"Tristan… No. I can't – no, I won't do it. I don't want to be with you."

Tristan sighed on the other end of the phone, and Rory could see him run a hand through his blonde hair, blink his cool blue eyes, and scratch his chin – all from her memory of him in a distressing situation. "I'm sorry," he said ruefully, "I don't think its okay… you know.. What I did.. but I still want to be with you."

"Tristan…"

"No, Rory… we worked good together. We fit, and I was an inconsiderate jackass. I was horrible, and I'm sorry…"

"Please, Tris… stop."

"No – I was a jerk, and… Rory, I can't take back time… but I… I love you." He mumbled into the mouthpiece of his phone, "Please… one more chance?"

"I have to go… I'm sorry," she said quickly, clicking her phone off, and dropping it back into its cradle that sat on the lovely, mahogany end table by the couch.

Taking in a lung crushing breath, she rubbed her temples before walking back towards the kitchen, picking up the bag of asparagus and placing it in it's rightful place in their refrigerator. Letting some of the cool air brush over her neck and face, she kicked the door closed, and looked around her dorm.

Pulling her cell phone out of her pocket, she flipped through her numbers list, and found the one she was looking for. She definitely needed that drink.


	6. Can't Resist the Hollow

---&---

**Chapter Six**: Can't Resist the Hollow

"Hello? Finn? It's Rory… Rory Gilmore –"

"'Ello, kitten. What can I do for you?"

"I was wondering about… you know, getting that drink you offered. Unless you're busy, because then we could.. just you know, reschedule."

"Love?"

"Yes?"

"I'm not busy."

"Oh," Rory said, letting out a breath she had hardly realized she was holding inside her chest, "Good…"

"Do you know the Campus Pub?"

"The Yale one?"

"No, the Harvard one – yes, of course the Yale one, kitten."

"Yes, I know where the Yale pub is."

"Good, I'll meet you there in twenty.

"Oh, alright. I'll see you then." Snapping her phone closed, she closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, letting a sigh escape her.

She had never been this way – she was never one to take up a stranger's offer for a drink… not that she could honestly say a stranger had ever offered before.

Rory honestly couldn't fathom why she was feeling the after effects of the ending of Tristan and hers' relationship so harshly. She hadn't wanted to be anything but another conquest to him in the first place – could it be that she had actually fallen for him over the past few months?

Rory certainly didn't think so. So, perhaps, she was feeling the effects so badly because Tristan hadn't even wanted the relationship. Rory bit her lip and made her way towards her bedroom, letting herself have ten minutes to freshen up before she met her newfound friend.

Maybe Finn could loosen her up. She had a feeling he could.

---&---

"No, Sookie," Lorelai sighed, exasperated from her friends futile attempts to get her to go on a date, "I just don't want too."

"Aw, come on, Lorelai!" Sookie squeaked, sautéing the mushrooms in vegetable oil, "I hear this Jason guy is really nice," she pouted slightly, patting her pregnant stomach, "—do you think salt would taste good on mushrooms? Ooh, I think so! Oh! And even with some vinegar, and pickles!"

Lorelai scrunched her face up, and looked at the plain mushrooms, "I'm just not ready to date, Sook."

"Hand me that jar of pickles, will you?" Sookie asked, after dashing a bit of salt in her sautéing pan with the mushrooms, "On second thought, I don't want pickles. I want carrots!"

"Sookie, how about just plain mushrooms?"

"It's so… not feisty! I want a feisty dinner!"

"Then don't cook the pot roast, and try eating it while its still mooing rare?"

"No, silly," Sookie laughed, shaking her head, "I want something spicy and different."

"And a mooing piece of meat for dinner is spicy and different."

"Lorelai," Sookie said, shaking her head, "sauté my mushrooms while I find jalapeno peppers." Lorelai obliged and tried her best at sautéing salted mushrooms. "I know I had a jar of them in here," Sookie called from the pantry, shoving bottles and jars aside. "So, back to the topic of you dat---"

"I'm not dating."

"Come on, Lorelai," Sookie sighed, "Chris was a jerk. He wasn't good enough. Get out there, play the field – get to home—"

"Sookie," Lorelai mumbled, eyeing the sizzling mushrooms, "I'm just not ready. I thought _the_ guy was Chris. He wasn't _the_ guy for me. I'm a little distraught over it."

"Maybe _the_ guy for you is right under your nose and you don't even know it."

"I doubt it, Sook," Lorelai bit her lip, and looked around her friends kitchen, tilting her head. "Where's Jackson?"

"Hmn?"

"I asked where Jackson was."

"Oh," Sookie said, coming out of her pantry, her jar jalapeno peppers in her left hand. She smiled victoriously and got out a cutting board, before placing a few of the peppers on it. "He's with his father. Apparently they need to spend some time together doing _manly_ stuff as _manly_ men."

"So they're at Jackson's parents' house, watching TV and drinking beer?"

"You know it," she replied, slicing up the peppers into thin pieces. "I think tomorrow they're going fishing, and then camping out."

"Where are they going fishing?"

"Some place in Massachusetts. They'll be gone for a few days, so it's just me, Davey, and little no name."

"Hey, Sook?" Lorelai asked, setting the kitchen table for three.

"Yeah?"

"I think I'm going to sell my house."

"Which one?"

"The Hartford one."

"Why?" Sookie asked, placing her pot roast on a platter in the middle of the table, before walking back into the kitchen to scoop the mushrooms and jalapeno peppers into a bowl, "I thought you loved that house in Hartford."

"I do, it's just so big. And with Chris and me being divorced, and Rory being in college, I just.. I get lonely."

"So you're moving back?"

Lorelai smiled slightly, and looked around Sookie's lower portion of her home, tapping her finger nails against the wood of the table, before she walked back into the kitchen to grab glasses for the three of them. "Yes," she said, opening the cabinet, and taking three glasses out, "I'm moving back to Stars Hollow."

---&---

"Hello?"

"Rory, fruit of my loins! My flesh and blood! The child with my name! Lover of Lucifer! How art thou?"

"Have you been watching Shakespeare in Love again?"

"No!" Lorelai said, aghast, and shaking her head even though her daughter couldn't see the action. "How could you ever accuse me of watching Gwenyth without you?"

"Sookie's crying isn't she?" Rory stated, more then asked, "And you got bored of trying to tell her it was just a movie, so you called me, didn't you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"So," Rory said, locking her dorm suite door behind her as she walked out of her building, and towards the courtyard, "what'd you call to talk about?"

"I'm moving back to Stars Hollow."

"What are you doing with the Hartford house?"

"Selling that bad boy as quickly as I can."

"Why?"

"It's so big – and me and your father are divorced, and you're at college and it just seems like a waste of a house on one person." Rory's mother sighed, and Rory's heart broke into more pieces then it already was in, "I just…I miss Stars Hollow."

"I know. I understand."

"Really?"

"Of course," Rory said holding her cell phone between her ear and shoulder as she crossed her arms over her chest to warm herself up a bit, "So I have news."

"Ooh! Is it good news?"

"Depends on what you think is good."

"Should I sit down?"

"Aren't you already sitting down?"

"… Yes."

"Then stay sitting, if you please," Rory said shaking her bangs out of her eyes as she walked, taking in a deep intake of chilly November air, "Tristan and I broke up." There was a long silence on her mother's end of the phone. Rory bit her lip, now that the Yale Pub had come into sight from where she stood, waiting for her mother to say something. "Mom?" she asked, scratching the back of her head, "Mom?"

"Why?" Lorelai finally asked, over-coming her initial shock. "You two seemed so… happy, and in love… and you two were just down right sickening."

"Yeah well, he decided not to tell the girls of Princeton he had a girlfriend."

"He didn't!"

"He _did._"

"Jackass," Lorelai mumbled, "We'll sic Luke on him!" she declared after a moments thought. The truth was that Luke and Lorelai had _not_ reconciled verbally. It was more of a mutual agreement that hadn't been needed to say in words. Lorelai had been spending more and more time in The Hollow, and the dispute had needed to be settled if Lorelai wasn't going to starve to death.

Rory laughed in spite of the situation, and shook her head, "It was over before it even started, mom."

"So, are you wallowing?"

"No, I'm actually meeting up with a friend at the pub."

"Oooh!" Lorelai chimed, grinning, before glancing over her shoulder to still see Sookie sobbing over the ending of the movie, "Is it a male friend?"

"Maybe."

"Ooh, elusive! Tell mommy all about your new boy toy!"

Rory rolled her eyes, and sat down on the bench, wanting to finish her conversation with her mother before coming within hearing distance of the Pub. "He's just a friend."

"And mommy wants to know all about your _friend_. So dish."

"He's taller then I am."

"That doesn't take much!"

"Blame the genetics," Rory retorted, shaking her head, "And he's… Australian, I believe."

"Oooh, exotic!"

"So is the Bird Flu—"

"But that's a disease."

"Anyway—" Rory continued, inspecting her fingernails in the darker, "He's nice. And funny, and to be honest, I don't know him all that well."

"Call me later with details?"

"I always do."

"Good, well… I'm gonna go help Sookie remember it was just a movie."

"Good luck."

"Thanks. Love you."

"Love you, too. Bye."

"Bye!"

---&---

Author Note: And this was chapter six of my beloved PDLD! Aww man, I love my Lorelai, Rory and Sookie – I just love them so much I want to pinch their cheeks.

Any who – many of you have asked if the last chapter was the end of Tristan, and your answer is:

**No**; Tristan will be popping up in the story from time to time.

Another question – Is Tristan going to cause problems?

**Yes**; Tristan is going to cause problems, and most likely get in the way of a blossoming relationship between Rory and Finn… I won't tell you the scale of the problems, but there will be some underlying Trory underneath it all.


	7. Morbid Cheers for Tycoons

**Chapter Seven: **Morbid Cheers for Tycoons

The Yale Pub wasn't packed as Rory had expected it to be when she arrived to meet Finn. There wasn't any body touching body, no spilling drinks when someone needed to get by – it was mildly… well, deserted. Rory sighed, crossing her arms, a sign she wasn't all that comfortable with her surroundings as she glanced around the musty pub waiting to catch the eye of a certain Australian.

She bit her lip, and took a few steps further into the pub when a group of Freshman guys opened the door behind her and gave her a none to gentle shove forward.

"Rory, love?"

Rory turned to her right quickly, and smiled, "Hey."

"Come on, I want you to meet my mates." Finn wrapped his hand around her wrist gently, and pulled her into the depths of the shallow crowd towards the other side of the pub. "Rory, this is Logan—" he pointed to a blonde, "and Colin – Colin has a bit of a ruddy stick stuck up his ass, but he grows on you," and he pointed to a brunette nursing a beer.

"Hi," Rory said, smiling slightly, continuing to stand as Finn took a seat next to Colin, "I'm Rory…"

"They know, love. Sit."

Rory nodded, taking a seat in-between Finn and his friend Logan. "So…" she said, tapping her fingers on the table, "You all go to Yale?"

Logan nodded, "Juniors, you?"

"Sophomore," Rory replied, glancing around the pub slightly, "I don't remember seeing any of you last year."

"Well," Colin started, shaking his head slightly, "We all decided we needed a bit of time off."

"So we took Logan's dad's yacht and sunk it in Fiji." Finn summarized, causing a laugh to settle around the table.

Rory rose an eyebrow, and laughed, "So you're Logan Huntzberger, then?"

Logan nodded, "Unfortunately."

"Unfortunately? You're father is Mitchum Huntzberger! He's a newspaper industrialist! How can that be unfortunate?"

"It's not unfortunate, Rory," he said, taking a long sip of his drink, "I'm just saying its unfortunate that, that's my name."

"Uh huh.."

"Long story short, love," Finn started, placing his hand on her elbow, "Is that Logan doesn't want to take over the business."

"Understandable." Rory nodded, "I feel the same way."

"She's a Gilmore," Finn said to Colin and Logan, who had rose their eyebrows, and nodded, saluting Rory with their drinks.

"May all tycoons of every industry rot in hell!" Colin toasted, taking a deep gulp of his beer, "Kelly, be a dear and get another round of drinks!"

"I hear that," Rory said, smiling, and settling into a comfortable silence.

---&---

"Sookie, Sookie, Sookie!" Lorelai called, rushing into the Dragonfly Inn's kitchen, "Guess what!"

"What, what, what?" Sookie asked, closing the door to the stove, and tossing her rag onto her shoulder, before walking to the coffee maker, and turning it on.

"You need to guess!"

"Why?"

"Because!"

"I need to guess, because?"

"God, Sookie! Stop ruining the fun!"

"Uh, Taylor was abducted by aliens, and is now being forced to do the Macarena?"

"Good try, but no!" Lorelai squealed, tightening her grip on the piece of paper in her hands, "We can franchise!"

"Franchise what?"

"The Inn, Sookie! We can open more!"

"Why would we want to do that?"

"Why wouldn't we, Sookie? We'd be getting the Inn further out there – more income for us after we build. Sookie, we can put an Inn in every New England state."

"But we just opened this one less then a year ago."

"I know, Sook, but look at our Inn… We were voted the most successful new Inn in Connecticut! We have Better Homes and Gardens interviewing us next week – Sookie… we're making names for ourselves!"

"I don't know, Lorelai…" Sookie said slowly, frowning, and rubbing her stomach. "It's really soon, don't you think?"

"Yes," Lorelai agreed, but she sighed, placing the paper on the counter, "But don't you think it's worth it? We'd own a chain of Inns… Me and you, Sookie, just me and you."

"Alright," Sookie said, nodding, "Let's do it. Let's open a chain."

---&---

"Luke!" Lorelai called, letting the Diner door close behind her, "Luke!"

"What?" he asked, coming out from the kitchen, and resting his hands on the counter top as Lorelai came to stand before it.

"Coffee?" She asked, smiling slightly, and drumming her fingertips against the surface.

"This crap'll kill you, Lorelai," he grunted, grabbing a mug and placing it on the counter before he grabbed the coffee pot, and filled it to the brim. "I don't understand why you just won't drink a glass of juice, or maybe even water once in a while."

"Because water has no taste, and juice is just to healthy." Lorelai responded, swallowing a mouthful of hot coffee as she took a seat on one of the stools, "So anyway," she said, setting her cup down. "I have news. Big news."

"What?"

"I'm moving back."

"Back where?"

"To Stars Hollow.. I'm moving back."

"Oh," Luke said, smiling slightly, "Wow.. That's, that's great, Lorelai."

"And me and Sookie are franchising the Dragonfly." Lorelai grinned, clapping her hands together, "We're opening a Dragonfly in Lenox first."

"Lenox…?"

"Massachusetts – I guess it's famous for all the Inns, and this fall festival that goes on every-year."

"Fall festival?"

"Something to do with Shakespeare."

"Ah, I see." Luke said, wiping down the counter, "I've never been big on Shakespeare."

"Me either, but it's so cool, Luke. I'm gonna have an Inn in another Historic town that everyone knows about – for the most part, anyway. I'm excited, Luke… I can't believe I'm actually… I'm actually making a name for myself outside of the Insurance biz."

"I'm happy for you."

"Thanks, Luke.." Lorelai smiled, and glanced down at her empty mug, "More coffee?" she asked, meekly, smiling slightly.

Luke grunted, and poured her another cup of coffee before walking off, and leaving the coffee pot on the counter next to Lorelai. She grinned, and watched him with her eyes for a moment, before reaching over and stealing a donut from the tray.

---&---

He hated that he had allowed Rory Gilmore to get to his heart, worm her way inside, and then smash it into millions of tiny pieces with a perfectly polished baseball bat. She was his weakness, and she knew it. She had used it to her advantage, and had dumped him.

For what, well, that part he knew. But why had _he_, out of all the _lucky_ bachelors, been the one to have his heart trampled on?

"Rory, pick up your damn fucking phone!" He hissed into his cell phone as he kept his eye on the stretch of pavement in front of him, "We need to talk. We're not fuckin' finished." He snapped his phone closed, pissed he'd only gotten her voice mail.

He looked down at his cell phone quickly, keeping one hand firmly planted on his steering wheel, as he looked for a number. _Aha_, he smirked inwardly, coming across the number he had wanted to come across. He pressed the call button and placed the phone up to his ear, holding it in place by tilting his head to the side, and scrunching his shoulder so he could place both hands back onto the steering wheel.

"_Hello_?"

"Paris," he said, quickly, "do you know where Rory is? She's not answering her phone," he asked, hoping Paris hadn't been fortunate enough to hear the news.

"_She said something about going down to the Pub,_" Tristan heard Paris hush someone on her end of the phone, before she focused her attention back on him, "_Why_?"

"We need to talk, and she kept hanging up on me earlier."

"_Didn't she just drive down earlier this morning_?_ What happened_?"

"We got into a fight. Thanks, though. Hopefully I'll see you soon."


	8. Don't Be a Stranger

**Chapter Eight: **Don't Be a Stranger

"What the hell is your problem, Rory?" he hissed, slamming his fist down onto the table next to her, earning glances from just about everyone on that side of the pub and a wince from Rory, "We need to finish talking."

Rory braced herself, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, "Go home." She seethed, casting a glance at Finn, before turning to face Tristan, "We have nothing to talk about. Your member did all the work for you. I should have known you'd be a jackass."

"Jesus fuckin' Christ, Rory!" He yelled, shaking his hands in the air, "I fuckin' love you! I was stupid! I got it, I understand! Just give me another chance!"

"Rory, love?" Finn said lowly, leaning over and touching her elbow, "would you like me to get him out of here?"

"Shut the hell up," Tristan snapped at Finn, pulling Rory's chair out, and helping her out of the chair, "C'mon, Rory, we need to talk."

"I'll call you," she told Finn, biting her lip before she sighed, throwing a rueful look at him, before grabbing her jacket and leading Tristan out of the pub, "Talk," she said, once they were outside the gates and on the sidewalk. "You want to talk, well talk."

"Why are you doing this?" he pleaded, looking at her with watery blue eyes, "I understand… I just… I want another chance, Ror… c'mon… we worked great together."

"Tristan, please," crossing her arms over her chest, she blinked a few times, focusing her gaze on the sidewalk. "I don't want to do this. I didn't want to get hurt---"

"I'm the one who fuckin' got hurt, Rory!" he growled, gripping her shoulders, "that night, you came into my bedroom… it was what I had been waiting for since you frickin walked into Chilton… I knew…I _knew_ you didn't want it to be anything more then a one night stand…"

"Tristan.. I—"

"No.. I'm not finished. I was fine being un-exclusive, being allowed to love other women the way you let me love you, and I was… but I really.. I really started feeling something for you… Why me, Ror? Out of all the men in Hartford, why me? Why'd you have to break _my_ heart?"

"I'm not the one who cheated, Tristan!"

"I know, Rory… Jesus, I know.." Stroking her cheek, he sighed, before pulling his hand away, and shoving it into his jacket pocket, "I didn't think twice before those girls, Ror."

"Tristan, you cheated… and you hurt me… You just.. You did the same thing my father did to my mother! I can't trust you… God, I wish I could, but I _can't_."

"Why not?"

"Because you slept with other girls while I sat at home and thought about you. Because I actually gave our relationship my all… Because I swore off dating other guys for you… Placed you upon a pedestal, and thought you would be faithful to _me_."

"Just one more shot, Rory… That's all I'm asking you… it's all I want is one more chance to make you believe I'd give the world for you."

Rory bit her lip, and glanced around the vacant atmosphere she and Tristan stood in. She let her eyes linger on the bright street lamp, and trace over towards the apartment buildings on the other side of the street before back at the pub. She sighed, and finally looked at his face, taking her time to make eye contact, before taking a step and a half back, "No," she whispered, pulling her entire lip into her mouth, "No…" she said again, "I don't want to be with _you_ anymore, Tristan."

"But just this morning things were perfect!" He ran his hands through his hair, and turned around once slowly, trying to comprehend her answer. He took a step towards her, and sighed, about ready to lose his cool in front of Rory Gilmore, "Please…"

"No…" She said again, pulling her jacket on, and zipping it up, looking away from him, "Tristan.. I really think you should go home…"

"Ror---"

"I'm only going to tell you once again," she said softly, looking up and letting her eyes sparkled in the moonlight, "Please go home, Tristan… I don't want you to come back… I don't want to talk to you anymore… Please… just go."

"That was twice…" he said, joking lightly.

Rory let out a watery chuckle, shaking her head in frustration before meeting his gaze full on, "Go home."

---&---

Finn couldn't believe his ears when he had heard whoever that blonde was, speak to Rory like that. In fact, Finn could hardly believe his eyes when he had saw Rory walk out of the pub door with that jerk without so much as a fleeting glance in his direction. Firstly, he didn't believe Rory would ever listen to a guy like that – but sometimes, his intuition about people tended to be wrong.

Finn glanced around the pub, letting the chocolate pools he had for eyes, settle on every person who looked at the door as if asking in their minds the same question he had in his: What the hell was _wrong_ with that jerk?

"I wonder who he was—" Colin muttered, watching Finn stare at his beer, "he seemed like a jerk. She's to good for him."

"Maybe he was having an off day," Logan mumbled, shrugging his shoulders, "anyhow – it's late, and my father is making me drive down to Providence to check up on a paper tomorrow. So, I'm off. See you in the morning Colin, and Finn—" he said, getting up, and shrugging his jacket on, throwing a smile at his friends, "I'll see you whenever I get home, because Lord knows you'll still be asleep when I leave. Later," he bade goodbye to his friends, and crossed the pub, walking out into the chilly November air.

"Finn," Colin said, "there's a redhead over there, and she's eyeing you from what I can tell."

Finn smirked, and glanced around the pub, catching the eye of the redhead, before turning back to Colin, "Cheers, mate," he grinned, shrugging his jacket on, and standing, "I'll see you when I see you."

"Bye."

---&---

Rory watched Tristan as he drove off down the street. She groaned, chewing on her bottom lip, before glancing in the direction towards Yale, "And I'm free, yet again."

"Free from what?"

Rory turned quickly, eyes wide with alarm, and her heart thumping inside her chest with such a pace she hadn't even thought possible, "God," she groaned, patting the skin above her head, "Don't do that."

"Do what?" He asked, tilting his head, and raising an eyebrow.

"Sneak up on a girl like that! You nearly gave me heart failure."

"Well _that_," he said, walking up beside her and draping an arm around her shoulder, "would have been cause for the flags to fly at half mast."

"And whys that?" Rory asked, shivering slightly as he guided her back towards Yale.

"Because you are to much of a looker to die so soon," he laughed.

"I actually feel my heart breaking as we walk, Logan," she deadpanned, shooting him an annoyed look as they continued walking down the sidewalk. "Where are we going?"

"Well, I'm walking you back to your dorm, you're just doing the guiding."

"Who said I needed a chaperone to make it back to my dorm, Huntzberger?"

"Why I did, of course," Logan smirked, before ruffling his hand through her hair, "Wouldn't want anyone to attack you while you're walking home… now would you?"

"No, I guess not."

"You only guess? Why, and here I thought you were a journalist. I hope your guess was well educated."

"It was educated very well, thank you."

"So anyway," Logan started, leading her through the front, tall gates that surrounded the perimeter of the Yale campus, and up the front path, past many oak, and elms trees red, gold, and bronze with color, "free from what?"

"Another boyfriend," she replied, letting out a long, deep sigh. "That was Tristan… my boyfriend.. Well, ex-boyfriend now."

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"That someone broke your heart," he replied easily.

"We both broke each other's heart," Rory told him, letting her eyes water at the thought of what he had done to her, "But the breaking up was my doing. He wanted to give it another shot… but I just… I can't comprehend why he did what he did."

"What'd he do?"

"He cheated on me…" she bit her lip, shaking her head, "He was with me while my parents went through their divorce because my dad cheated on my mom."

"I heard about that."

"Yeah, and so I couldn't… well, you know."

"Yeah, I know."

"This is me," Rory said after a few moments silence as she led him to her dorm, "number five."

"I'll see you around, alright?"

"Alright. Night, Logan; thanks for walking me home."

"No problem," he said, turning and walking in the direction they had come, "Oh, and hey Rory?"

"Yes?"

"Don't be a stranger," and after had said that, he disappeared around the corner, leaving Rory alone in the dark hallway of her dorm building.

She smiled slightly, slipping her key into her door, and opening it before walking inside and closing it with a snap. She sighed, her eyes scanning over the vacated living room she shared with Paris. Kicking her shoes off, she placed her keys on the key hook, before crossing over the creaking floorboards and walking into her room.

Oh yes, tonight was _definitely_ a very interesting night.

---&---

**Author's Note:** I was sitting in class the other day, thinking about anything other then what my professor had decided to lecture about to us, and I just happened to think about doing a Trory spin-off of this story, as someone had suggested. Now, I hadn't really given a Trory spin-off to this story, but I suppose it all depends on how far I go with this. Now, I'm not shooting the idea down entirely, I'm just letting you all know that I'm thinking about it.

Revew.!


	9. The Not So Blissful Calls

**Chapter Nine: **The Not So Blissful Calls

"I don't know how much longer I can take it, Sookie," Lorelai moaned, rubbing her forehead before nursing a large mug of bitter black coffee. "Chris keeps calling, and it's driving me up the wall!"

Sookie sighed, and shook her head, rubbing her stomach, and giving Lorelai a rueful look, "Can't you just block his number or something?"

Lorelai shrugged, "I've tried, but somehow he keeps getting a hold of my number. I'm going to have to change them soon."

"Get a restraining order!"

"_Sookie_," Lorelai said, exasperatedly, "It's not like he's hiding in my bushes! He just keeps calling me…" biting her lip, she furrowed her brows, "I wonder if he's calling Rory."

"Call her and ask. I need to chop my onions. Oh, Fredric! No! You don't baste the lamb before you put it in the oven!"

---&---

"It's nine o' six on a Saturday morning! I'll kill you!"

"My, my, aren't we chipper this morning?"

"Mom?"

"No, it's God. I'm calling to inform you that coffee is out of supply, your toast is burnt, and you flunked school. Astalavista baby, it's community college for you here on out."

"Ugh."

"Rough night?"

"You could say that."

"How was exotic boy?"

"I don't remember."

"Ooh! Dirty! Tell mommy all about it."

"Mom—"

"I bet he was a screamer. I've always said exotic boys are screamers."

"Mom--!"

"Did he call you 'love'? Oh, oh! Did he tell you, '_you, baby, are the only one for me. I want to make sweet love to you on a beach'_?"

"_Mom_!"

"Yes, fruit of my loins?"

"Tristan showed up."

"Ooh, bad move on ET's part."

"I made it as official as I could for him that I didn't want to be together anymore. He was upset, and I feel bad."

"Don't."

"But I do – I mean, I've known him for years, and I just don't feel like I can go back to hating him without feeling guilty…"

"Rory, he cheated on you. He broke you. I should sic Luke on him, for God's sakes! Rory, don't feel bad. He was a jackass, and he's not worthy of your pity. Hell, all of his family aren't worth your pity. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, Ror."

"I know."

"It was horrible of him to do that to you, Ror."

"I know."

"So, on the note of why I was actually calling."

"Yes?"

"Has your father been calling you?"

Rory blinked, and rubbed her forehead, before letting out of a breath, "No, why?"

"He's been calling me a lot lately. I was just wondering if he'd been calling you too. You know, us Gilmore girls and our wiles – we're simply smashing and irresistible."

"He's been calling you?"

"Yeah, but – I mean, I'll just change the home phone number, and my cell."

"Has he said anything to why he's been calling you, lately?"

"No. Rory don---"

"No, he has no right to be calling you! Ugh, I'm so sick of him. He's an asshole. Don't talk to him mom, he's… Ugh."

"Rory, he's your father!"

"Hah! I don't need him, mom. You don't either. God, what an asshole – calling you and expecting you to want to talk to him!"

---&---

"I told you not to contact us," she snapped as soon as he opened his front door. She crossed her arms, and threw him a death glare, "You have no right to ever think we'd want to talk to you."

"Ror—"

"Don't even talk to me like nothings wrong. _You're_ wrong. God, what is your _problem_? Are you honestly that thick to think she'd ever want to talk to you?"

"Don't speak to me like that! I'm your father!"

"Only by blood," Rory spat, shaking her head with disgust. "Stop calling mom. Don't go near her, don't even show up to any of the parties or galas you know we'll be at. You are no longer a part of our lives – get it through your thick skull. You were excommunicated from our family."

"Rory –"

"No, don't come near us." Turning around, she tightened her jacket around her, and walked back down the snow covered pathway that led to the driveway of her _father's_ mansion. She bit her lip, and unlocked her car, before sliding inside and shutting the door with a snap behind her. "The nerve," she muttered to herself, starting her car, and spinning around the fountain, and heading back down the driveway and onto Hudson Ave.

Grabbing her cell phone off the passenger seat of her Range Rover, she scanned through her contact numbers, pressing down on one of them, before holding her phone to her ear.

"_Hello_?"

"Hey, Finn, it's Rory."

"_Well, hello, kitten. What can I do for you_?"

"Are you anywhere near Hartford?"

"_I'm visiting my 'rents_."

"Do you want to meet up for lunch?"

"_Just name the place, love_."

"Luigi's?"

"_See you there in twenty_."

---&---

Rubbing his hands over the sleeves of his jacket, he let out a breath of warm air and watched as the cool air already formulated around him, mixed with his breath of carbon dioxide. He smirked a bit, amused with New England's winter weather, before letting his eyes watch for a short, pretty brunette.

He smiled slightly, cracking his neck by rolling it to the side, before holding the door to Luigi's open for an elderly couple on their way inside.

"Finn!" Rory called, walking up to him from the side he hadn't been watching. "You look cold, why didn't you wait inside?"

"Didn't want you to think I wasn't here yet, kitten." He replied, wrapping an arm around her in a half hug as she led the way inside. "So, how was your morning?"

"Long, yours?"

"Eventful," he responded, "My mum believes I need to settle down with a girl who I believe could be _the_ one."

Laughing slightly, Rory shot him a look, "My mother is forbidding me to find _the_ one before she does. We're having a competition of some sort."

"Oh?"

"Yes, whoever can fall in love first will permanently get the first cup of coffee served at Luke's."

"Sounds fun," he smiled.

"Table for two?" The hostess asked, picking up two menus.

"Yes, two."

"Right this way, please. Watch your step."

Rory and Finn followed the hostess towards the back of the restaurant to a small, round table, adorned with a red and white checkered table cloth, and a real white carnation flow center piece. Pulling Rory's chair out for her, he waited for her to be seated, before taking his own seat.

"You know," he started, smiling at her from across the table, "It never ceases to amaze me how cozy this place makes me feel. Kind of reminds me of a bistro back home."

"In Australia?"

Finn laughed, "Yes, love, Australia."


	10. Unwanted Kisses and Wanted Estates

**Chapter Ten: **Unwanted Kisses and Wanted Estates

"Paris?" Rory called, pushing open the dorm suite door. Shrugging her jacket off, and unwrapping her scarf from around her neck, she glanced around the common room, "Paris? Are you home?" Waiting a moment for an answer, which she didn't receive, she sighed, dropping her jacket and scarf onto the chair beside the door. "And I guess not."

Walking towards the little kitchen, she switched the coffee pot on, before setting on a quest to find a poptart in one of the cupboards.

_Knock, knock._

Turning in the direction of the door, she tilted her head, "Come in! It's open!" She called, returning to her mission of finding a poptart.

"That's dangerous, you know. Telling people to just come in."

Gripping onto the handle of the cupboard, she took in an unsteady breath, before turning to look at her visitor. "What are you doing here?"

"I've missed you, Rory… It's December seventh! It's been over a month, and I came to see if you were ready to try it again." Taking steps further into the common room, he closed the door behind him, before crossing into the 'doorway' of the kitchen.

Staring at him with doe eyes, she shook her head, rubbing her temples, "I can't believe you came here!" She yelled, closing her eyes, and wishing him away. "Why are you here? Why would you ever think I'd want to see you?"

"Because I know you miss me as much as I miss you, Rory. Come on—let's just try and be together again."

"God, Tristan! Are you stupid? I don't _want_ to be with _you_!" Slapping her hand against the counter, she laughed bitterly, "You're such a narcissistic jackass!"

"Shut up!"

"No! You deserve everything I say! You're self-centered, egotistical, dense, cruel, rude, crude and a horrible person for doing what you did!"

"Shut _up_, Rory!"

"Make me!"

"Fine!" Placing both of his hands on a side of her face, he roughly pulled her to him, before crashing his lips against hers, savoring the flavor of cinnamon and vanilla on her lips. Pressing against her, he let a sigh escape his lips slightly, before kissing her gently.

Closing her eyes, Rory fisted Tristan's shirt in her hands, before groaning, "Tristan---"

"Rory, don't… just… just feel…" He mumbled, pressing his lips against hers again, letting his hands fall from her face to her waist. He gently pulled her into him, and groaned at the amount of contact he was having with her.

Gently sliding his tongue across her lower lip, asking for entrance into her mouth: he waited. He waited to see how far she would allow him to take it. He waited to see if this would open the door to her heart once more.

Parting her lips slowly, she furrowed her brows slightly, before pushing forward, and backing Tristan towards the common room. Tristan slipped his tongue quickly into her mouth, reacquainting himself. He grazed his tongue over her teeth, before meeting her tongue in a battle for lusted control.

"Tristan," Rory sighed, pulling away slightly, opening her eyes and looking at him, "We can't…"

"Rory," Tristan groaned, pressing his forehead against hers, encircling her waist in his arms, "I want you to feel how much…" he started, taking one of her hands in his own, and guiding it down his stomach till it rested on his belt buckle, "how much… I want you… and how much I need you… Rory… please, if not for the sake of getting back together, then for the sake on how crazy you're making me right now…"

"Tristan.. I can't… _we_ can't…"

"Why not?"

"Because I don't love you…"

"Rory," he groaned, breaking away from her completely, grabbing his hair in frustration, "Did you love me on my birthday? Did you love me then? Because I sure as hell know I fucked you then!"

"Tristan, please," Rory sighed, dropping onto the couch, and placing her head in her hands, "It doesn't feel right!"

"Rory, what the hell is your problem? I've put myself on the line for the past month for you, and even before then! I'm asking you to just give me another shot because _everyone_ makes mistakes!"

"But your mistake was one of the worst possible ones!" Rory retorted, looking at him, fire in her eyes. "What is my problem? What is _yours_? If you loved me so much, which I highly doubt you did, you wouldn't have had sex with other girls while we were together! That's not a mistake, that's just you thinking with the lower part of your anatomy! You could have stopped whenever you thought about me, but I'm sure you didn't. Rory wouldn't find out, right? She's all the way in Connecticut! There's no possible way she'd know! Well, Jesus Christ, Tristan! I found out!"

"Rory, stop. I was just trying to make a point!"

"And you're pissed off the rocker because your point was plausible, right? You forgot one thing Tristan!"

"Yeah, and what's that?"

"I didn't get into Yale on my daddy's money! I'm smart! I have a head, and I know how to use it!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means you're unreliable, and an idiot! You disgust me, Tristan. You think the only way a relationship can be considered real is if the girl is dropping on hands and knees begging you to have sex with her!"

"I do not!"

"How about the bimbos you had in your bed when we were together, Tristan? How was that for a relationship? Because I know that sex was the basis of ours!"

"It was not!"

"Oh, _please_!" She yelled, standing, and meeting his gaze, while walking forward, and stopping from being a foot in front of him, "How did it feel Tristan?"

"How did _what_ feel?"

"How did it feel screwing the Chilton virgin? How did it feel finally knowing that she succumbed to your Kingly wiles, Tristan? How did it feel to know that you could boast about getting her into your bed, saying she was a virgin when she came, but a Magdalene when she left --- knowing full well that none of your friends would know about Dean or Jess?"

"I never—"

"No, Tristan. How did it feel? Did it feel like you won the war? That you could finally say you had the Chilton Virgin notch in your bedpost?"

"Rory… I haven't thought of you like that in years…"

"I don't care. We're over, Tristan. We've been over for a month, and you just… you really need to stop coming to Yale… You need to never call me again… you seriously just need to go."

"Rory…"

"No, Tristan," she sniffled, rubbing her temples with her thumbs and index fingers, "Please go. I don't want to see you again…"

Defeated, he sighed, pressing a kiss to her forehead, before pulling back, and looking at her. Biting the side of his cheek, he let his gaze settle on her lips, and before he could comprehend what he was doing, he leaned forward and kissed her. Pulling back quickly, he stroked her cheek, before backing up and fumbling with the door knob while still facing her, "I'm sorry," he said, opening the door, and turning slightly, "that I hurt you like I did…" Walking out of the door, his head not held so high, he sighed, closing the door behind him, leaving Rory to clean the battle wounds he'd rehashed.

Biting her lip, Rory willed herself not to cry. As the door snapped closed behind him, her cell phone began to ring, and she groaned. "Hello?" she said, after pulling it from her jacket pocket, that still resided on the chair beside the door.

---&---

Bursting through the door of her childhood home, Lorelai glanced around, taking in a deep breath, before hanging her coat on the coat stand herself. Letting herself get acquainted with the warmth of the inside, she bent down and brushed the snow off of her shoes, she laughed slightly, noticing the change in tiles.

"Mom?" Lorelai called, straightening herself, and walking towards the parlor, "Mom?"

"Lorelai?" Emily called, walking down the stairs, and watching her daughter look around the parlor, "What brings you here? Is everything alright? Is Rory hurt? Is she okay?"

"Everything's fine, and Rory isn't hurt." Lorelai smiled slightly, taking two glasses off of the drinks table, and filling them with white wine, "I just realized I hadn't been here in a while."

Emily nodded, accepting a glass of wine from Lorelai, before motioning for her to sit, as she, herself, took a seat in one of the antique chairs. "So, what brings you here?"

Lorelai took a seat on the love seat, and sipped her wine, taking in a deep breath, "Well, Sookie and I have big news."

Emily's smile faltered slightly, but she nodded, "Do go on."

"We're franchising the Inn, mom." Lorelai grinned, setting her wine glass on a coaster on the coffee table. "We're opening our second Inn in Lenox."

"Massachusetts? Your father and I have a very lovely home there."

Raising her eyebrow, Lorelai looked at her mother, "Since when?"

"Since I had the need to buy a new vacation home, Lorelai. Honestly, you act like having more then one home is absurd."

"Mom, you seem to forget that I have more then one home."

Emily smiled, and nodded, "I do. I'm sorry."

Lorelai shook her head, and picked her glass up again, "Anyway, I was in Lenox over the week, inspecting vacant lots and things, and that's when I realized.."

"Realized what, Lorelai?"

"That the Vanderbilt Estate was for sale…"

Emily's eyes widened, and she leaned forward, "The Vanderbilt Estate?"

"Yes," Lorelai said, "It was _amazing_, mom. The architecture, and everything… But it just… It didn't capture my eyes as an Inn… So I bought it."

"You _bought_ the Vanderbilt Estate?" Lorelai nodded, and Emily quickly set her wine glass onto the coffee table, "Lorelai! You bought the Vanderbilt Estate!"

"I know," Lorelai nodded, "and I came here to let you know that you and dad could use it any time you wanted too… I didn't buy it for just Rory and me, I bought it for you and dad too."

"Oh my," Emily smile, clapping her hands together, "This calls for a celebration! Call Rory, and let her know she's invited to dinner tonight. I'll have Martha cook something extravagant!" Standing, Emily quickly exited the parlor, and went in search of the cook.

Pulling her cell phone out of her hand bag, Lorelai flipped it open and pressed the number one button, allowing it to call Rory's cell phone manually. Tapping her fingers on her leg, she listened as it continued to ring.

"Hello?"

"Rory! You're coming to dinner tonight at your grandparents."

"Why?"

"We're celebrating."

"Celebrating what?"

"Celebrating that I have now voluntarily immersed myself into the Elitist world."

"That's cause of celebration? Are you sick?"

"No," Lorelai said, casting a glance around her parent's parlor, "Anyhow. Dinner is at seven, so be here by seven o' five just to irk my mother."

"Will do."

"Hey—are you okay?"

Rory let out a sigh, and shrugged, fully aware her mother couldn't see the action, "I'm just peachy."

"What happened?"

"Tristan showed up."

"_Again_?"

"Yes," Rory told her mother, walking across the room, and walking into her bedroom, closing the door behind her. "We kissed."

"Rory!"

"What?"

"You _kissed_ him?"

"I stopped it."

"Rory…"

"No, I told him to leave… and he left… but before he left I told him I never wanted to see him again… Oh mom, it was horrible. I said horrible things."

"But he _did_ horrible things, Ror. I'm sure what you said had nothing on what he did."

"I said I didn't get into Yale on my daddy's money. And that I actually had a head, and I used it."

"Ouch…"

"And I also told him he was a narcissistic jackass…"

"You swore? I'm proud—"

"And I also kind of said that he thought the only way a relationship was real was if the girl was on her hands and knees begging him to have sex with her."

"Oh, wow, Rory… are you feeling alright? Because that's something mommy would say."

"I just… He makes me so mad! Ugh, it's like he can read my mind, and figure out a time to do something like kiss me when he knows there is a very low chance that I'll backhand him."

"Did you slap him?"

"No…" she paused for a moment, "I should have slapped him? Ugh, I should have slapped him!"

"No, honey, I was kidding. But hey, tonight, after dinner, come back to the Hollow with me, and we'll have a movie night/movie morning. We'll eat junk food, watch sappy romance movies like A Walk to Remember, and we'll just eat so much sugary foods, Luke'll have a heart attack."

Turning towards her bedroom door as it opened, Rory's jaw dropped slightly, "Sounds like a plan. I'll see you later."

"Bye Rory."

Closing her phone, Rory set it on her bed, before walking to Paris, and enveloping her into a hug, "Paris, what happened?"

Paris let out a blubbering sigh, and buried her head into Rory's shoulder, "Doyle broke up with me!"

---&---

**Author Note: **Well, there's a little Trory action for those who love Tristan. Now, here is a semi-cobble-stoned way for the long awaited wait for PDLD. Now, I'm not saying when they'll get together, but let's just say, Finn will play a much larger part from here on out.

Review, please! ) , oh, and Happy Thanksgiving to those fellow Americans!


	11. Dancing in Circles

**Chapter Eleven:** Dancing in Circles

"Oh, Paris," Rory sighed, stroking her hair, "I'm sorry…"

"He said.. he said," she sniffled, pulling away slightly, and dropping onto Rory's bed, "that it was because… his.. his, his family hates me! And that," she rubbed her eyes, and burst into a fresh batch of tears, "he can't marry someone his family hates!"

Rory frowned, and handed Paris the box of tissues she usually kept on her desk, "He doesn't deserve you Paris."

Paris shook her head, and blew her nose, "I feel so… broken."

"It happens," Rory said, sitting down next to her, "at least he did it to your face, Paris. Remember when Jess broke up with me? He didn't say anything, he just packed up and left."

"What an asshole! Who needs guys? I'm swearing off guys."

Rory rose an eyebrow, "You're going to become a lesbian?"

"Hey, why not?" Paris said, throwing her used tissues away, "I don't want to be married and sixty and wake up one morning and be like, 'I'm a lesbian'. I'm going to try it out."

"Paris," Rory started, shaking her head, "Don't you think that that's a bit… oh, I don't know? _Drastic_?"

"No," Paris shook her head, standing, "Thanks, Rory. But I'm going to call my father about our jet."

"What? Paris, where are you going to go?"

"To Portugal to visit Nanny," Paris said, crossing her arms, "I sent an application to a semester student exchange program abroad."

"Why?"

Paris shrugged, and looked at the ground, "I don't know, but if I'm accepted, then I'm moving abroad to finish the year in a different country, and a student gets to come here and be your new roommate."

"I don't _want_ a new roommate."

"Rory, this is something I need to do."

Rory sighed, and shrugged, "Whatever, Paris."

Paris nodded, and smiled, "I'm going out. Don't wait up." Leaving Rory's room, Paris rubbed her forehead, before heading back out of the dorm.

---&---

"Kitten!" Finn called the next afternoon, opening Rory's dorm suite door, and walking inside, closing it behind him. "Are you home?"

"Finn!" Rory grinned, walking out of her room, pulling a sweater over her head, "How are you?"

"Completely freezing, love." He responded, smirking playfully, "Care to warm me up?"

"And how exactly would I do that?"

"Oh, I can think of a few, rather lovely ways," winking at her, he walked into the kitchen, opening the refrigerator, glancing for food even though he wasn't rather hungry, "But actions such as the ones going about my mind isn't what brings me here."

"And what brings you here, then, Finn?" Rory asked, pulling herself up on the counter, crossing her legs Indian Style as she watched him raid her refrigerator.

"I was wondering if you were, by any chance, free tonight, kitten."

"Depends on whose asking."

Finn stood upright, and closed the door to the refrigerator, and cast a quick glance around the kitchen. Opening one of the cupboards, he poked his head inside, before turning to look at her, "Love, do you have _imaginary friends_?"

"What?"

"I just… I believe we're the only ones in the room, love…. Unless you have _imaginary friends_," he whispered, leaning forward.

Rory shook her head and laughed, "No, I don't have any imaginary friends, and no: I don't have any plans for tonight."

"Good!" Clapping his hands, he grabbed her around the waist and hoisted her off the counter, before dropping her gently onto the floor. "Then pack an over night bag, because doll, I'm taking you to New York."

Raising an eyebrow, Rory tilted her head to the side, and watched his facial expression, "What?"

"We're going to Rockefeller Center! I want to see the tree light up!"

"Finn, you want to take me to New York City? To see a tree?"

Finn nodded, before leaving the kitchen and crossing the common room, and letting himself into her bedroom. "Of course," he said, as if it was an obvious reason to go on such short notice. Rory quickly followed him, and watched him dive under bed, looking for a suitcase. "Love, where is your bag?"

"In the closet."

"Ah! Of course, silly, silly me." Shuffling out from under the bed, he stood, brushing himself off, before quickly opening the door to her closet. "You'll need sweaters." He said, pulling three sweaters off their hangers, and throwing them onto the bed, "And jeans!" He said, pulling more then three pairs of jeans off the shelf, "Size two? My God, eat woman, eat!" He teased, tossing them onto the bed.

Rory laughed, and walked to her bed, starting to fold her clothes neatly, "I do eat. I eat more then you do."

"I know, and yet you're so tiny. My small mind simply cannot comprehend it, love." He clapped his hands together, and fished out her suitcase from the bottom of the closet, and slid it across the floor with his foot, "I'm sure you don't need my help to pick out undergarments," he said, wiggling his eyebrows, "Unless, of course, you'd like me to see what you wear under those tiny jeans."

"I've got it covered from here, Finn," she replied, walking to her dresser, and pulling a few pairs of panties, and three matching bras out, and throwing them into her suitcase. Grabbing a few pairs of socks, they too, landed in the suitcase, "Will you make me coffee, Finn?" Rory asked, turning to look at him, and smiling sweetly.

"No time, kitten," he said, staring at her collection of shoes, "I'll buy you some on our way to the airport. My pops is letting me use the airplane."

Her eyes widening, Rory tilted her head, "_You're_ flying?"

"No, love!" Finn laughed, "The pilot. Hah, America allowing me to have a pilot's license? That's nonsense."

"Good," Rory said, nodding her head, and throwing pajamas into her bag, "Because I was just about to come down with some terrible, terminal illness that would only last 'til you left my dorm."

Clutching his hand over his heart, he moaned in mock agony, "You wound me love! My heart is breaking! Oh, cruel, wretched girl! You made my heart bleed! It's bleeding! It's bleeding! I'm _die_ing!"

Rory burst into laughter, dropping onto her bed, "Oh Finn, you _slay_ me!"

"I'm glad to see that my pain causes you such great pleasure," he sniffed, throwing a glance around her bedroom slowly. "You know love, you have a very smashing bedroom."

"Thank you."

"Oh no, the thanks lies within my broken heart! Are you ready, kitten?" Rory nodded, and zipped her bag closed, before grabbing her cell phone off her nightstand, and slipping it into her jeans pocket, "Dandy! Here, let me carry your bag!"

---&---

"Hey Finn," Rory whispered into his ear, shaking him slightly, "Finn…"

"Mmm, five more minutes, love. You're doing _amazing_ things in my dreams," he mumbled, pressing his head even further into the comfy head rest on the plane chair.

Rory smirked slightly, getting out of her chair, and gently taking residence on Finn's lap, "Finn," she hissed, more then whispered again, "I'm bored. Let me join the M.H.C."

Finn's eyes bounded open, and he quickly wrapped an arm around her waist, "Love," he said, his voice still husky from sleep, "You should have said something sooner!"

Rory laughed, and pulled herself from his grasp, and stood up, yawning. "I was joking, Finn," she said, grinning at the crest fallen expression on his handsome face, "But I'm bored, and I need to be entertained."

"Damn debutantes! Can't live with them, and definitely can't live without the sex!"

"_Finn_!"

"You called?"

"You're impossible!"

"Am not!"

"Are _too_!"

"Am not!"

"Am not!" Rory spat back at him.

"Are too!"

"Hah!" Rory squealed gleefully, clapping her hands together and jumping up and down slightly, "I _told _you!"

Finn gasped, horrified at her trickery, and bounded forward, tackling her to the floor of the plane, "I can't believe you tricked me!"

Rory laughed, and poked his shoulder, "I can!" She grinned, pushing him off of her as she sat up, "Ah, to be young, a woman, _and_ having the complete knowledge that I can trick men."

Finn grumbled, shaking his head, "Women." He muttered, staring at the ceiling, "Dear Lord, what have I done to make you hate me so?"

---&---

"When are you going to stop dancing in circles around me, Lorelai?"

Lorelai blinked quickly, and took her focus off of the Godly liquid that sat in front of her. Looking up, she met his eyes, and shook her hair out of her eyes, "Excuse me?"

"When are you going to stop danc---"

"I heard that," she mumbled, folding her arms over her chest, "But… what?"

"Come on, Lore," he sighed, placing his hands on the counter, and leaning forward to be closer to her, "The sexual tension is there," he looked at her, letting his blue eyes melt with hers, "We flirt… we bicker, we laugh, we talk, and we get into horrible fights… when are you going to open your eyes and see that what I feel for you, you feel for me, too?"

"Luke…" Lorelai mumbled, scratching the back of her head, "What are you… I mean.. I just.. _what_?"

"Lorelai, will you go on a date with me?"

Lorelai stared at the man in front of her: her heart racing, and her mind working a mile a minute. Running over the past fifteen years in her head, she furrowed her eyebrows. "I don't know what to say…"

"Say yes."

Lorelai slowly grinned, "Yes," she said, "I'd _love_ to go on a date with you!"


	12. What a Glorious Feeling

**Chapter Twelve:** Singing in the Rain

"If a woman could marry culinary masterpieces, I'd totally marry this pie!" Rory moaned, after taking a bite of her desert pie in the Waldorf Astoria's Inagiku Restaurant.

"Love, I'm offended. Shouldn't you marry the man who bought the pie for you, so he could buy you many more pies of such delicacy?"

Rory thought about it for a moment, as she gracefully shoved another bite of apple pie into her mouth, "Hmn," she said, swallowing, "No."

"And why not?"

"Be_cause_, Finn," she laughed, setting her fork down on her plate, "then the pie would feel unloved, and lose all of it's values, and become yucky pie that Betty Crocker would be ashamed of, and banish it to the yucky pie graveyard, where all the yucky pies haunt the loved pies until all the loved pies are eaten."

"Well, we certainly wouldn't want that, now would we?"

"No, we certainly would not!" Glancing around the restaurant, then letting her eyes glaze over the bar, she finally let her attention fall onto Finn, and tilted her head, "I feel really underdressed."

"Why's that, kitten?"

"Everyone is wearing fancy dresses, and tuxedos, and here I am, in jeans and a sweater!"

"Well, love. Let's go to our room then."

"But Finn, I didn't pack any pretty clothes. I need to go shopping."

Raising his eyebrow, Finn glanced out one of the very large windows, marveling at how dark it had become in the tiny time frame that he hadn't been paying attention to the time. "Tomorrow, kitten. I'm positive all the shops are closed."

Sighing, Rory nodded, pushing her chair back slightly, and standing, "Let's go then. I want to see what room we've got."

Finn smirked, and clapped his hands together lightly, standing, and ushering her out of the dining room, his hand lightly grazing over the small of her back, "It's really quite charming, if I do say so myself."

"And how would you know, Finn? We haven't even been to our room yet. We walked in, gave our bags to the concierge to have a bell boy bring them up, and then we went straight to dinner."

"I know," he said, pressing the scripted up button on the elevator, "but it's the suite I stay in every time I come here. And let's just say, doll, that I make very many visits here."

Walking into the elevator, Finn following quickly behind her, she leaned against the elevator wall, "I've only been here once."

"And when was that, kitten?"

Sighing, Rory stared down at the tip of her heels that her jeans somewhat hid, "Oh.. well…" she started, letting her voice fade away.

"Love, if you don't want to rehash a bad, or even a good memory, I won't take offense."

Rory smiled, and kissed his cheek, "Thanks."

Finn shrugged it off, and scratched his jaw, waiting for the elevator to stop. He felt somewhat tortured by being in Rory Gilmore's company, and not having the luxury to just sweep her into his arms and just place even the tiniest of kisses on her lips. He had felt like the air supply was being cut off as she kissed him on the cheek as a sign of gratitude.

_Oh bloody hell_, Finn thought, _what the hell have I forced myself into_?

---&---

"There's one bed," Rory said as soon as she entered the bedroom of their Grand Luxury suite. "One bed, Finn."

Finn cringed from inside foyer, and cracked his fingers, "Sorry?"

Rory came out from the bedroom, and laughed at his facial expression, "You do know what this means, don't you?"

"No?"

"You can't bring any girls back because we have to share the bed, and there is no way I'm sleeping on the couch." She thought for a moment, tapping her fingers against the molding on the door frame, "And I'm not having a threesome."

Finn laughed, and walked to her, encasing her inside his arms, and planting a kiss on her forehead, "Love, I do have to say that I enjoy your humor." Glancing at the clock over the loveseat, he grinned, "Kitten?"

"Hmn?"

"What do you say we go out?"

"What time is it?"

"Nine o' seven, love."

"Where would we go?" Rory asked, opening the curtains to see their view of Park Avenue, "Ooh! It's snowing! Finn, look!"

"Want to go outside then?"

"Where outside?"

"Rockefeller Center, love. We can see the Christmas tree, and go ice skating."

"Oh, Finn… I'm no good at any physical activities. It took three months of dance lessons to get down the Tango, and I still sucked at it… And then, in my sophomore year at Chilton! Oh man, I had to play a _sport_. I picked Golf, because I didn't want to prance around in a Cheerleading uniform, and I caused so much pain in my Grandpa's heart! I'm horrible at everything physical."

Finn smirked, and gave her a once over, "_Everything_ physical, kitten? If you'd like, I could give you a lesson on how to be good in—"

"Finn!" Rory hissed, scandalized. "You knew what I meant."

"I'm going to have to contradict you, kitten. I swear on my God-like abilities in bed that I thought you were saying you were a dead lay."

"Ugh," Rory groaned, walking to her bag, and unzipping it. She slipped out of her heels, and pulled a pair of sneakers on her feet, and pulled out a scarf, wrapping it around her neck. "Are we going?"

"Lead the way!"

---&---

Christopher stared at the woman that lay beside him in his bed. Sherry. His wife. She was beautiful with her wavy blonde hair, her big blue eyes, and the leanest, and longest legs he'd ever set sight on besides Lorelai's. _Lorelai_, his ex-wife. Man, had he screwed up big time.

Christopher sighed, and ran his hands over his face, trying to comprehend why he'd had the audacity to do something like he did to the two most gorgeous women he'd ever met.

"Sherry," he whispered, running his hands up and down her arm, "honey, wake up."

"Mmm," the blonde incoherently mumbled, "Chris its four in the morning. What could _possibly_ be wrong?"

Kissing her neck, Christopher smiled, running his hand down her chest, and resting it on her lower stomach, "I'm just thinking about how happy I am that we're going to have another baby."

Sherry smiled warmly at him, turning onto her back and kissing him softly. She sat up a little, and let a kiss linger on his lips even longer, "Me too." She said softly, laying back down on the bed, as she watched him, "I'm so glad you don't have work taking up almost all of your time now."

Christopher winced slightly, and shrugged, "I just simply told my dad that my family was much to important in my life right now."

Sherry giggled slightly, and cupped his cheek, "I love you Christopher Lyon."

"And I love you Sherry Lyon."

---&---

"Oh, oh! And when Tim Allen fell off his roof and broke Frosty! How _horrible_!" Lorelai gushed, shaking her head, and squeezing Luke's hand in her own a bit, "I felt so bad for Frosty. He didn't even do anything! He just stood around in that basement all year, and the Krank's wouldn't free him! Horrible, horrible people."

"Aww jeez, it was just a movie, Lore."

Lorelai sighed, and shook her head, "I know, but I'm in such a Christmas-y mood. Ooh, I have to buy a lot of lights! I can't believe it's already December eighth. I need to decora—hey, why'd you stop?"

Luke smirked, and pointed upwards at the clipping of Mistletoe hanging from one of the street lamps, "Mistletoe."

"Aww, you big ol' softy!" Lorelai laughed, before letting her laugh be cut off by Luke's lips on her own.

---&---

"I told you I was bad at anything physical – and get your mind out of the gutter, buster."

Finn held his hands up in surrender, and shook his head, "I thought you were exaggerating about being bad at ice skating. I didn't think you'd actually… well, _suck._"

"Well gee, when you sugarcoat it like that!" Rory pouted, crossing her arms over her chest, while walking beside Finn on one of the desolate streets on their way back to the Astoria. "Even though I fell on my butt more times then anyone should possibly fall on their butts while attempting to ice skate… I had fun. I had a lot of fun. Thank you."

Wrapping an arm around her shoulder, Finn grinned, and looked down at her, "It's my pleasure, kitten."

"Oh Finn, look! It's raining!" Rory frowned, and bit her lip, furrowing her eyebrows, "It's winter time. Why is it raining? It should be snowing!"

Finn grinned, and grabbed her hands, "Well lets make the best of it then, shall we?"

"Finn," Rory warned, raising her eyebrow. "Don't do what I think you're going to do!"

"Kitten," Finn laughed, "I know this wont compare to my Passion of the Christ reenactment, but I promise on all booze in the bloody world, it'll make you feel a bit better about the rain!" Finn broke his hands away from hers, and grabbed a hold of one of the street lamps, and tried his best to swing around it, "I'm singing in the rain!"

"Oh god," Rory mumbled, burying her head into her hands, letting one eye watch Finn swing around the lamp post.

"Just singing in the rain! What a glorious feeling— come on, kitten," Finn grinned, running to her, and sweeping her into his arms, twirling her around in the rain, "I'm happy again!"

"_Finn_!" Rory hissed, glancing around the street as Finn twirled her, "Put me _down_!"

"I'm laughing at the clouds," Finn continued, jumping off the sidewalk, Rory still in his arms and splashing into one of the many cold puddles the rain was making, "so dark above. Oh, the sun's in my heart!"

Rory laughed, and watched him with a bemused expression on her face, "And I'm ready for love!" she yelled, not even caring that it had to of been very late at night. She was _not_ about to try and sing along with Finn.

Finn grinned, jumping back onto the sidewalk, dropping her gently onto the ground, before enveloping her into a soft hug. He kissed the top of her head, and pulled back slightly. He smiled, looking down at her, brushing damp hair off of her forehead, and behind her ears. "Are you feeling better about the rain, kitten?" he asked, softly, staring deep into her eyes. He blinked, and a rain drop fell from his eyelashes, and onto her nose.

She laughed slightly, and nodded, "I'm feeling much better about the rain, thank you." She whispered, biting her lip faintly.

"It was my pleasure, love." He replied, looking around the street, watching droplets of rain bounce off one of the over hangings to an apartment building, and then explode on the concrete. He finally took in his surroundings, and glanced upwards, smiling warmly, running his hands over Rory's arms, "Hey, kitten?"

"Hmn?"

"Well, excuse me for being such a sucker for tradition, but –"

"Yes?"

"Mistletoe."

Slowly leaning down towards her, he closed his eyes, letting the thought of kissing Rory Gilmore cultivate in his mind. Smiling inwardly, he brushed his lips over hers, and let the heat of the moment get the best of him by settling his rough, chapped hands on her cheeks, bringing her closer to him. Rory sighed slightly, before allowing herself to reciprocate his actions.

It felt good to kiss Rory Gilmore.

Breaking away from her kiss, Finn let his face hover only inches away from hers, letting the cold air fill his longs. "Wow.." he mumbled, watching the movement under her eyelids.

"Let the stormy clouds chase everyone from the place…" she whispered, finally opening her eyelids, and letting a smile grace her face. "Come on with the rain— I've a smile on my face."

"I'll walk down the lane, with a happy refrain," Finn began to sing again, wrapping an arm around her shoulder, guiding her further down the sidewalk, "Singing, singing in the rain!"

---&---

**Author Note**: Well, I think it is safe to say I'll either be highly thanked, or become number one on a hit list or two. I could **not** resist their first kiss to be like that. I've been watching sappy, old romantic movies all day and I just thought it would be the most adorable thing ever if it happened like that.

Review, please!


	13. Epitome of Something or Another

**Chapter Thirteen**: Epitome of Something or Another

"And then we kissed, and Rory, it was amazing. It was… well, the epitome of amazing."

Rory grinned, and sank back into the living room couch, popping a cheese-puff into her mouth, "So you and Luke are together now?"

"Yes," Lorelai squealed, adjusting her sitting posture, and pulling a pillow into her lap, "I'm so happy… he's just, wow. It's Luke, Ror. _Luke_… Luke that fixes our house, feeds us so we don't starve to death.. I just, I can't believe I never noticed… I think this is it for me, Ror."

"Aww! You and Luke!" Rory laughed, clapping her hands together, "I'm so happy for you. Oh! I wonder who won the bet."

"The bet?"

"Yes, the bet. Everyone in town started bets last year to see how long it'd take for you and Luke to get together."

"I was _married_ last year! Why would they start bets?"

Rory quirked an eyebrow, and tilted her head, "Miss Patty and Babette, mom."

"Oh," Lorelai nodded, "Right. Scratch that earlier thought." Lorelai bit her lip, and glanced at the coffee table filled with junk food, and coffee thermoses, "So… should we start with the super sappy movies? Or should we go with the epitome—"

"That's your new favorite word, isn't it?"

"Epitome? Oh yes, I was flipping through your dictionary the other day –"

"You opened a book? _Willingly_?"

"I was bored."

"Of course."

"So anyway, yes, or should we start with the _epitome_ of scary and go with the first, 'The Exorcist'?"

"Sappy and we'll work our way up."

"Good idea. We'll call Luke over for 'The Exorcist'."

"Why?"

"So I can hide my head in his arm, of course."

"Oh silly me for thinking otherwise."

"Ooh! Dirty!"

"Ugh," Rory sighed, standing and pushing the 'When Harry Met Sally' video tape into the V.C.R.

Sitting in the Stars Hollow home of Lorelai and Rory Gilmore, it felt as if nothing had ever changed since the last time the two Gilmore girls had sat on the very same couch, watching movies while the outside world around them kept going – not bothering to notice the small simple things in life that could make you happy.

As the front door burst open, and slammed shut seconds later, Rory turned to Lorelai and smiled slightly, "It's Paris."

"Oh?"

"Uh hu—"

"I told my parents."

"Told your parents what, Paris?" Lorelai asked, reaching forward, grabbing the V.C.R. remote off of the coffee table, and pressing pause.

"That I'm a lesbian."

"Oh," Lorelai said, her eyes widening slightly as she processed the information in her mind, "Well… would you like a cheese puff?"

"No," Paris said, shaking her head, and throwing herself onto the couch in between the mother and daughter duo, "My parents cut me off. They said they'll only continue to pay for college and Grad school, but after that, my perfect, stick thin, bubbly valedictorian, I don't hold it against you Rory—"

"Noted."

"Anyway, my perfect sister is now heiress to my family's fortune."

"I'm sorry, Par—"

"No, don't be sorry. You can't help it if I like to sleep with girls, Lorelai. I mean seriously! Cutting your daughter off just because she doesn't get a high off of sleeping with men, anymore! God, this is all Doyle's fault!"

"Ugh!" Rory cried, shaking her hands in front of her eyes, "Stop it, Paris! He's still my editor! Oh god, bad images! Bad, bad, bad!"

"Sorry," she replied sheepishly, shaking her head, "Anyway… He sucked in bed, I swear he couldn't tell which way was up or down – man did he blow it for me."

"Paris, please stop. Please, please, please stop and I'll pick up women for you. But please stop giving me images of Doyle in bed! Ugh!"

"Well, Rory, I didn't get accepted into the exchange abroad program."

"I'm sorry, Paris."

"But I'm still leaving Yale. I got accepted into Harvard, thank God. I had my grandpa pull a few strings, and in I went. I'm leaving after next week."

"So I won't have a roommate anymore?"

"No, sorry."

Rory shrugged, and rubbed her forehead, "It's not an issue. It'll just take some getting used to."

Paris sighed, and shrugged her jacket off, tossing it behind her and letting it land with a 'flop' on the floor behind the couch. "Can I stay here?"

"Mhmm," Lorelai said through a mouthful of pretzels, "Do you mind the couch? I haven't gotten around to renovating this place to make it bigger. I got so used to the mansion in Hartford, that I hadn't realized this place would be like.. a shack."

"It happens," Rory agreed, making herself even more comfortable on the couch.

"So, how was New York with the Australian?" Paris asked, looking at Rory with a smile on her face.

"You went to New York with _the_ Australian?" Lorelai gasped, holding her hand to her heart, "And you didn't tell me? Fruit of my loins! The reason I exist! The wind beneath my wings! Why, oh why, must you wound my poor, little heart?"

"Well," Rory sighed, "You were on a Luke high, and I didn't want to tell you because you and Luke have so much going for you."

"I don't care! You're my daughter!"

"Well, we went to New York City, and we stayed in the Astoria for two nights."

"That's it? You tell me you go to the city in the winter time, with an _Australian_, and nothing happened?"

"Well.. we kissed.."

"You _kissed_?"

"God, Rory, you work fast."

"What are you talking about Paris?"

"You and Tristan just broke up."

"We broke up over a month ago!"

"I know, but that's soon, don't you think?"

"No, I don't think it's too soon!" Rory groaned, and rubbed her face with her hands, letting her head fall onto the back of the couch, "And besides, I don't even want a relationship right now."

Lorelai frowned, and grabbed a handful of popcorn off the coffee table, "Because Tristan was so important to you, and you just don't feel ready? Because if I remember quickly, you told me the only reason you even met up with Tristan was to piss your father off."

"And it worked."

"Then what's the problem?"

"I got attached! I wasn't supposed to fall for the asshole, but I _did_."

"You fell for him? Must have been a pretty short fall."

"Mom, can we please just continue with movie night?"

"Fine, but you're not off the hook."

"Of course not."

---&---

"Richard," Emily Gilmore called through the mahogany wood door that separated her sitting room, from her husband's home office, "Are you busy?"

"Nothing that can't be put off for a moment, Emily," Richard replied, setting his cigar into a crystal ash tray, and pushing his bifocals up the bridge of his nose slightly, "Please com in."

Emily twisted the doorknob open, and stepped into the somewhat smoky office, closing the door behind her, "Afternoon, Richard," she smiled, folding her hands in front of her, "I have news."

"Oh?"

"Oh yes, big news," Emily continued, sliding gracefully into a red leather antique chair in front of her husband's desk, "Rory and that Dugrey boy have parted ways."

"But he was such a charming young man."

"I believed so too," Emily said, crossing her legs, "but it seems that he was a tad bit unfaithful to Rory. I believe we should throw her a party, and introduce her into the world of much more… _suitable_ and dignified men. She mustn't pussyfoot around anymore, Richard. We are a serious family, and I'm possibly right in assuming Francine and Straub feel the very same about their granddaughter."

"Of course," Richard nodded, opening up a black, leather bound book, flipping through a few of the pages, before landing on one, "how about we have a New Year's Eve party, Emily? We'll invite many Yale alums, and their sons to our party, and introduce Rory to many of them."

"Sounds delightful!" Emily gracefully stood, and walked to Richard, kissing him lightly on the cheek, "I'll begin planning it this instant. It'll be fun."

---&---

"I can't believe you're leaving," Rory sighed, looking around Paris' empty dorm room. "Whose going to bite all of my friend's heads off now? I don't think the dorm allows pit bulls."

"Like you would be able to keep it alive, anyway, Gilmore," Paris said, glancing around her empty bedroom, letting a sigh escape her lips, "I never thought I'd see the day where I'm sad to leave you."

"Me either."

"I can't believe I'm not going to see you everyday. Wow," Paris breathed, biting her lip, "We've been together for going on five years."

"It sounds like you're breaking up with me, Gellar, and I have to tell you that you're going to make me cry if keep it up with this sentimental stuff."

Paris let out a watery laugh, and turned to Rory, frowning slightly, "We're not roommates anymore. Terrence said that my journey in life with you is complete. I'm kind of scared that it is."

Rory frowned, and wrapped Paris into a hug, "Paris, you're a pain, but you're _my_ pain. Our journey is not completed until one of us kicks the bucket."

"Oh you slay me, Gilmore."

"I tend to do that." Rory pulled away, and backed up against the wall, leaning against it for support, "Promise you'll call every day?"

"I promise."

"Good." Rory nodded, "So… I'll walk you out."

"Okay," Paris picked up her last bag, and led the way out of her empty bedroom, and into the common room. "Oh God, Gilmore." Paris sniffed, "I don't live here anymore!"

"You'll visit."

"I know. Call me with any and all problems."

"I will."

"Bye Gilmore, it was great living with you."

"Ditto," Rory agreed, opening the door, "Bye Paris."

"Bye… _Mary_."

"Oh God, not you too!" Rory laughed, slamming her head gently against the door, "I don't think I could live in a world with two Tristan's."

"Hey, I'm not a Tristan."

"You both like girls," Rory grinned, and hugged Paris, "I'll talk to you soon. Call as soon as you get there."

"I will. Bye Rory."

"Bye Paris."

---&---

"I heard your roommate has moved out," Finn said, as he walked into Rory's dorm unannounced and made himself comfortable on the couch beside her.

"Well, you heard correct." Rory mumbled, licking her spoon clean of Rocky Road, as she flicked through the channels on her TV.

"I'm sorry, kitten," Finn said softly, wrapping his arm around her shoulder, and sticking his finger into her pint of ice cream, and scooping some out. Eating it off of his finger, he wiped the remainder of his salvia on his jeans, and kissed Rory's cheek, "Is there anything I can do?"

"Nope."

"Love…"

"Finn, I'm fine. Just a little upset."

"Are you sure?"

"Obviously if I just said I'm fine."

"Little feisty this afternoon, aren't you?"

"Did you come here for a purpose, or did you just come to annoy me?"

Finn frowned, and stroked her hair slightly, before taking the remote from her hands, and flicking the TV off, "You need to get out."

"I do not."

"Kitten," Finn sighed, taking her ice cream out of her hands, grabbing the lid; placing it on top. He stood from the couch, and walked into the kitchen, placing the pint of ice cream back into the freezer, "Change. I'm taking you out."

"I don't want to get out of my dorm, Finn. You may not find sitting around, eating junk food, and watching horrible TV fun, but I do."

Finn pointed towards her dorm, and shook his head, "Change, kitten… please?"

"Ugh." Rory groaned, frustrated. She exasperatedly stood up from her curled position on the couch, and stalked into her bedroom, slamming the door closed behind her.

"Bloody American women," Finn muttered under his breath, resting his forehead on the counter.

Today was going to be a _long_ day.


	14. Knock, Knock Are You Decent?

**Chapter Fourteen**: Knock, Knock… Are You Decent?

---GG---

Rory walked out of her bedroom, adjusting her white, off the shoulders sweater, and slipping on a pair of cozy white clogs. She yawned, and glanced around her dorm room, expecting to see the back of Finn's head, as he sat on the couch. Furrowing her eyebrows, she took a long, full glance around the common room, letting her eyes take in everything that had changed in a little less then two weeks.

Paris was gone, and she had taken everything that had belonged to her. Rory glanced remorsefully towards the spot where Asher Flemming's printing press sat for a day and a half, to the place where Rory had the unsettling imagery of Doyle walking around in Paris' short, flowery robe.

"Rory, love?" Finn said, walking in through the common room door, carrying a tray of four coffees, and a bag of donuts. "Are you hungry?"

Rory turned to look at him, tilting her head to the side, and wondered when she'd changed from the girl she was at the end of last year. She'd slowly broken herself down, and turned into someone she didn't know anymore. She wasn't confident, and as sure of herself anymore. She… was, well… different.

She looked at Finn, and had decided right then and there that she had changed over the summer while vacationing with her grandmother in Europe. She lost herself there, in their culture—their landmarks. She wasn't the socialite she'd grown into, and grown to love anymore.

She was just.. plain and simple Rory Gilmore, who didn't use her family to her advantage. She didn't have everything handed to her while she was this Rory Gilmore – and for some strange, unaccountable reason, she didn't like it.

Her cell phone went off, and she went to answer it before she could process that Finn had spoken to her. She walked back into her bedroom, dropping onto her bed, and grabbing her cell phone off of the nightstand, thankful for the interruption of her self-hating thoughts.

"Hello?" she said, her voice cracking towards the end.

"Rory? Hi, it's Stephanie Vandercamp. We went to Chilton together."

"Oh, hey Stephanie," Rory smiled lightly, and sat up on her bed, staring at her empty doorway, feeling badly that she had left Finn standing in the common room, "What's up?"

"Well," Stephanie started, a noted smile in her voice, "I'm Yale bound."

"Oh, that's cool."

"Yes, and since it's halfway through the semester, and I've heard through the Hartford Society grapevine, that your roommate, Gellar, was transferring to Harvard…"

"Well, the grapevine is never wrong," Rory laughed.

"Do you think I could move in with you? I'd rather room with someone that I somewhat know from Chilton then with some gothic girl that wants to worship the Devil."

"Yes, of course. I'd love to room with you."

"Great," Stephanie breathed, "So, I'm flying in from New York tomorrow, do you think we could meet up for a coffee or something?"

"Sure, sounds great. Give me a call when your plane lands, and I'll pick you up."

"Alright, I'll talk to you tomorrow. Bye Rory."

"Bye Stephanie." Rory closed her phone and smiled, slipping it into her jeans pocket, and hopping off her bed. She skipped into the common room, and wrapped her arms around Finn's neck, giving him a toothy smile, "Finn!"

Finn rose his eyebrow, and smirked, planting a kiss on her forehead, wrapping his arms around her waist, "What's gotten you so chipper?"

"My friend Stephanie from Chilton is coming to Yale," she grinned, pulling away from him, and walking around the couch, grabbing a coffee out of the tray, taking a long, savoring sip of it, "And she's going to be my roommate."

"Ah, see?" Finn laughed, dropping onto the couch, taking a bite out of a donut that he pulled from the bag, "Now you're not alone, and Colin, Logan and I have a new lady to corrupt with our partying ways."

Rory narrowed her eyes, and shook her head, "Men," she sighed, sitting down next to him.

"You couldn't live without us, kitten."

"You want to bet?"

"No," Finn said, swallowing a bite of donut, "I don't want to find out if you can or not."

"Sounds like a good idea."

Finn glanced at her, and took into her appearance, his smile growing, before he reached over and took her hand, "Rory?"

"Hmn?"

"Would you.. perhaps, like to go on a date with me?"

Rory's heart beat quickened as she turned to look at him, his face had grown serious, and his eyes made her melt. He looked so vulnerable, and afraid to be rejected that she would hardly be able to bear his pain if she said no. She laughed, and squeezed his hand slightly, "Well, we've already kissed – so why not?"

Finn let out a breath he knew he'd been holding, and leaned over, placing a kiss on the corner of her mouth, "Thank you…" he sighed, wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her into a soft hug.

"Your welcome," she said, smiling, "But just to let you know, I'm not going to dye my hair red."

He let out a long, cheerful laugh, and planted two kisses on her temple, "I wouldn't want you too in the first place."

She turned her head, and met his eyes, giving him a silent message. She smiled when he leaned his face closer to hers, before he could barely stand the distance anymore, he crushed his lips against hers. She groaned slightly, letting her hands slightly fist in his hair, before reciprocating his actions.

Finn ran his hands down her spine, letting them rest on the small of her back, before tracing her lip line with his tongue, gently probing her mouth open, and slipping his tongue inside her mouth. His action elicited a moan from Rory's mouth into his own, so he continued, running his hands over her stomach, slowly, and gently lowering her onto the couch, hovering over her.

He broke away from her mouth, placing kisses along her jaw line, down her throat, and across her left collar bone. "Finn," she breathed, arching her back upwards, greeting his chest with her own.

He groaned, and swallowed roughly, fingering the hem of her sweater with his fingertips, before going for the gold, tugging it up; over her head, tossing it to the floor. His breath caught in his throat, as his eyes glazed over her bare torso, excluding her bosom. He grazed his fingertips under the wiring of her bra, placing gently kisses between the valley of her breasts. "Rory," he whispered, halting his fingers, and kisses, "Do you… want me to stop?"

"No," she moaned, pulling his face up to meet hers with her soft hands, pulling him down to kiss her. She pulled back slightly after a moment, "I don't want you…" she whispered, kissing his Adam's apple, before lightly sucking on it, "to stop.." Running her hands over his back, she fisted his shirt in her hands, before quickly pulling it upwards, Finn raising his arms to allow her to take it off of him, and throwing it to the floor.

"Good, because I don't think I'd be able too…" He reached his hands around her, caressing her shoulder blades, before making to unclasp her bra.

_Knock, knock._

They both groaned, and Rory pushed up at his shoulders slightly, letting a frown over come her features, "Sorry." She whispered.

"Can't we ignore them?" he whispered back.

Rory shook her head, adjusting her bra, before grabbing her sweater, and pulling it over her head, slipping her arms through the sleeves. "No," she said, handing him his shirt, watching him pull it over his head.

_Knock, knock._

"One minute," Rory called, standing and straightening her jeans out, walking towards the door, and almost tripping over her clogs. She couldn't remember ever kicking them off. She twisted the door knob, and opened the door. "Tristan.." she groaned, raising a hand to her forehead, "what are you doing here?"

"Did I catch you at a bad time?" he asked, moving to walk in, but she held the door closer towards the frame, blocking him. "Err.. can I come in?"

"No," she said, fixing him with a look. "What are you doing here?"

"My break started yesterday," he said, leaning against the door frame, "and I thought I'd come visit you."

"Why?"

"Because I missed you."

"Ugh," Rory groaned, frustrated at him and his timing, "What don't you get Tristan?"

"What are you talking about?"

"We broke up."

"And we've had our break—I just don't understand why you won't get back together with me!" Finn walked to the door, hearing the escalating voices, and wrapped his arm affectionately around Rory's waist, opening the door wider to come face to face with her visitor. "Who the hell are you?" Tristan yelled, looking at Finn, before turning to Rory, "Who the fuck is he, Rory?"

"Hey," Finn said, barely raising his voice, "there's no need to swear in front of a lady, mate."

"Shut the fuck up," Tristan growled, clenching his fists, "who the hell is he, Rory?"

"It's really none of your business," Rory snapped, narrowing her eyes at him, and crossing her arms over her chest.

"I do think it's my business," Tristan hissed, glaring at Finn with more hatred for the guy then he'd had for even Dean. He looked to Rory, and stepped forward, his eyes softening only notches, "What is going on with you? Why… Rory, seriously. What the hell is going on?"

Rory shivered involuntarily, and stepped backwards, gripping the door knob, "Go away." She hissed, slamming the door closed, and locking it, before turning to look at Finn with a rueful smile, "That was my ex."

"Seems like he doesn't know it yet."

Rory laughed bitterly, and shook her head, "We broke up in November – he's just choosing to ignore it."

"What happened there?"

"It's a long, long story."

"We have the entire –" _knock, knock –_ "day."

---GG---

"Hello?"

"Hey, Rory! It's Stephanie."

"Hi Steph." Rory replied, locking her dorm suite door, cradling her phone between her shoulder and head, slipping her keys back into her pocket. "Did your plane land?"

"No, I'm just in the boarding line now, but I forgot to tell you which airport I was flying into. It's totally out of your way."

"Which one?"

"Bradley."

"Oh, that's not bad at all," Rory said, walking into the brisk, winter air towards the courtyard coffee stand, "I'll just stop by at my mother's house and visit for a while. When does your flight land?"

"Eleven forty seven."

"Well, I'll make sure to be there by eleven forty five. I'll even make you a 'Stephanie' sign."

Stephanie laughed on the other end of the phone, and handed her ticket to the stewardess, "I'll see you soon. Bye."

"Bye Stephanie," Rory said, taking her phone from between her shoulder and ear, snapping it closed and shoving it into her pocket, "One large coffee, please. Black."

The coffee tender nodded, pouring a large amount of coffee into a Styrofoam cup. He placed a plastic lid over the top, and set it in front of her, "Three dollars and seven cents."

Rory handed him four folded dollar bills, and grabbed her coffee, "Keep the change," she told him, sipping her coffee cautiously, as she headed towards the student parking lot.

Rory slipped into her Range Rover, and stuck the key in the ignition, and her coffee into the cup holder. She wiped her steering wheel off with her hand before looking in her rearview mirror. She remembered when she had just bought it, and couldn't wait to show it off at Chilton.

She shivered unknowingly, and bit her lip. She and Tristan had made love in the back seat. She sighed, and grabbed her purse off of the passenger seat where she had just ceremoniously just thrown it, and pulled out her wallet. Her American Express black card shined at her, and she smirked.

So, perhaps she wouldn't visit her mother just now. She turned her rover on, and glanced at the clock, "Eight o' one," she read, and smiled.

---GG---

"You _bought_ a new car?" Lorelai gasped, walking onto the Dragonfly Inn's porch, watching Rory close the driver's side door

Rory shrugged, and locked her white 2005 Escalade, and smiled, "I needed a change."

Lorelai laughed, and tightened her jacket around her, stepping down the steps, and meeting Rory on the pathway. "I like it," she confirmed, nodded, "It's even bigger then the range."

"I know," Rory said, "And it'll hold more of our bags when we take our huge shopping trips."

"Yes it will," Lorelai agreed, turning to look at Rory, "So, what brings you here?"

"I'm on my way to Bradley," Rory said, following her mother inside the Dragonfly, letting a yawn escape her mouth.

"Why?"

"To pick up my new roommate," she said, sitting in one of the sitting room chairs, "You know her—Stephanie Vandercamp."

"Ooh, she's your new roommate? Where'd she go before?"

"I don't know," Rory said, "but I told her I'd pick her up from the airport at around eleven forty five." Biting her thumb nail, she glanced around at the guests, "what time is it?"

Lorelai looked down at her wrist, and adjusted her watch so she could tell her daughter the time, "Ten seventeen. Want something to eat? I could have Sookie whip something up."

"Cup of coffee," Rory said, standing.

"Well, you know where the kitchen is. Say bye before you leave." Lorelai said, kissing Rory's forehead, and walking towards her office.

Rory made her solo walk through the dining room, pushing open the swinging kitchen doors, and allowing the heat from the kitchen over take her as she made her way towards the coffee pot. "Mmm," she said, shivering as she poured herself a steaming cup of coffee, "Hey Sookie."

"Rory," Sookie squealed, rubbing her stomach, and rushing over to Rory, pulling her into a huge. "I haven't seen you in so long!"

"It's been a week, Sookie," Rory laughed, taking a long sip of her coffee. "How's the baby?"

"Good, good." Sookie said, pulling out a stool, motioning for Rory to sit down. "Can I make you anything? Pancakes? Waffles? Muffins? Cookies? Cake?"

"I'm good, Sookie."

"Oh, please let me make you something!"

"I guess I could go for a muffin."

"Good," Sookie clapped her hands together, and pulled out a bowl, "Chocolate chip? Raspberry? Blueberry? Strawberry? Ooh, corn muffins?"

"Chocolate chip is fine, Sookie."

"I'll make you a batch and you can take them back to Yale!"

---GG---

"Nice sign," Stephanie laughed, dropping her carry on's in front of Rory in the center of the airport crowd. "I like it – it's pink, and has glitter."

Rory shrugged, and laughed, "I would have made it better, but this was all my mom had at the Inn."

"Pink and glitter are a girl's best friend," Stephanie smiled, picking her bags up, and moving towards the bag belt. "I'm sorry this was so out of your way."

"Don't worry about it, I had nothing going on today anyway. I was just going to shop, but I can do that tomorrow."

"Shopping? I love shopping!" Stephanie grinned, grabbing a bright pink suitcase, with a matching duffle bag off the belt. "I hired movers for everything else," she explained as Rory grabbed the duffle bag from her.

Rory nodded, and fixed the duffle bag on her shoulder, "I would have done the exact same thing," she confirmed, leading Stephanie out of the airport. "I hate moving my stuff from my house to Yale, and vice versa. It's… stressing."

"I don't watch… I just sit back and relax."

"I go shopping with my mother while the movers do it."

"That sounds even better then relaxing!"

The two girls laughed, and flipped open the trunk of Rory's escalade, placing Stephanie's things in with minor difficulty. Closing the trunk, they both made their way to the front, as Rory unlocked the car with the remote. "Oh, sorry about the muffins," Rory mumbled, sitting, and closing the driver's side door, picking up the tray off muffins on the passenger seat, "Sookie made them for me."

"What's a Sookie?"

"My mom's best friend," Rory explained, setting the tray on the floor behind the passenger seat, "She's a chef, probably the best in the entire state of Connecticut, if not the country."

"That kind of makes me hungry – taking about chefs, and smelling those muffins."

"Want to go to lunch?"

"Sure."

---GG---

**Authors Note: **Tehehe, did you all like it? Because _I_ liked it – those knocks seemed very… oh I don't know, well placed, perhaps?

Psh, and yes, I am expecting knives to be thrown at me at any given second, and yes, I will be locking my dorm windows, and door tonight.

Review, please!


	15. Monosyllable Answers

**Chapter Fifteen: **Monosyllable Answers

---GG---

"We're having a party at our estate in Lenox," Rory told Finn, walking into his dorm room after he'd opened the door, "And I want you to come."

"Lenox, love? I'm not familiar."

"Yes, Lenox," she said, pulling three envelopes out of her bag, and handing them to him, "For you, Logan, and Colin."

"Thank you, kitten," Finn smiled, taking them from her and tossing them onto the coffee table. "I'll be sure that they get them."

"Good," she nodded, tilting her head and biting her lip, "You all can bring dates if you'd like."

Finn rose an eyebrow, and sat down on the sofa, letting his eyes fall from her face, and graze over the coffee table to the invitations. He frowned inwardly, and furrowed his eyebrows. He'd been sure that their date the previous night had been a success. It wasn't a horrible date: he'd categorized it as a nine – it would have been a ten if he'd spent the night, but he hadn't.

"Sure," he nodded, "I'll let them know. I'll see you."

Rory smiled weakly, and nodded, turning and letting herself out, "Later."

Closing the door, Rory made her way back towards her dorm room, processing his not-asking her to her own party as his date. Rory was positive they'd been on the same page when they'd said good night last night – that they were going to try dating even if neither of them had brought the subject up.

But perhaps he didn't think the date went all that well.

Pulling her phone out of her shoulder bag, and looked through her contacts list and sighed, not fully comprehending what she was about to do – and why she was doing it. She'd resorted to never talk to him again, and yet here she was, getting ready to reconcile and open her heart up to him again.

"Hello?"

"Hey," she breathed, willing her heart to stop running a marathon in her chest.

"Rory?"

"Yes," she said, biting down hardly on her lip, "Do you want to meet up?"

"Definitely." He said, smirking to himself, as he shut the door to his car, getting comfortable in the driver's seat, "Where?"

"Uh, Hartford. Let's meet up in Hartford."

"There are a lot of places in Hartford, Ror."

"The library. Let's meet at the library."

"I'll see you soon."

"Bye."

Rory flipped her phone closed, and bit down harshly on her bottom lip again, shoving her phone into her bag, she dug around for her keys. Finding them, she clutched them in her hands. She pulled her sunglasses off of the top of her head, and pushed them over her eyes, shielding them from the sun. Casting a glance around her, she pulled the hood of her Yale sweatshirt up, and over her head.

She'd been being followed by photographers for a few months now, and it was finally starting to get to her. She felt so out in the open, and so exposed. Rory couldn't fathom _why_ people would want her picture – but she supposed after a few weeks that it was because both sets of her grandparents had named her Heiress of their fortunes.

Add that on top of her mother's own fortune, and Rory would never have to work a day in her life.

"Mommy," Rory said, opening her phone and pressing speed dial, "They're following me again."

"Give them the finger," Lorelai told her daughter, letting out a flawless laugh, "Give them something to print in the papers and magazines!"

"_Mom_," Rory groaned, rubbing her forehead, and unlocking her Escalade with the remote control, "I'm not you."

"That's really to bad," Lorelai sighed, shaking her head on her end of the phone, "But in a way it's good, also."

"And I'd like you to broaden the horizon you just painted."

"You didn't get pregnant at sixteen."

"Uh huh."

"You didn't marry your father."

"Probably a good thing, right?"

"Uh, you're not Emily and Richard Gilmore's daughter."

"Yes, but I'm their granddaughter."

"You go to Yale."

"You went to Yale."

"Oh, yes… well, you go to Yale _now_ – I went back when I was forced to go to Yale."

"I'm hanging up."

"I'll talk to you soon?"

"Count on it."

---GG---

"I was beginning to think you'd be a no show," he said, as soon as he saw her round the corner of the classics section in the Hartford Library."

"I had to drive in front New Haven," Rory replied, dropping into one of the large chairs that sat next to a table with a reading lamp.

He followed suit, and looked her over with curiosity in his eyes, "How have you been?"

"Busy – being stalked by people."

"Nothing out of the ordinary then, right?" He laughed, tapping his fingers on the arm rests of the chair.

"Right-o, my friend. Right-o."

"Seriously – how have you been, Ror?"

"I've dated and broke up with a guy."

"Did you have to force yourself to look at him too?"

Rory laughed, and shook her head, letting her eyes rest on his face, "Silly, silly boy."

"So you've told me before."

"I've missed you, Jess."

He shrugged, and tugged at the collar of his jacket, resting his back against the chair, making himself comfortable, "I'm sorry I left like that, you know. Just – leaving like I did."

"It's okay – I've moved past it."

He nodded and stared at her, a smirk growing on his lips, "Wanna grab a coffee or something?"

She nodded, standing, and adjusting her shoulder bag on her shoulder, "Yes… I'd like that."

"Your car or mine?"

"Mine," she smiled, linking her arm with his, and leading him out of the library.

---GG---

"So I was thinking a Judi Dench movie marathon," Lorelai said over lunch at Luke's diner the next day, glancing at Rory across the table. "A little _Shakespeare in love_, _The Third Secret, A Room With a View, _and, the best for last, _After Murder Park_."

"I like the way your mind works, Louis," Rory agreed, taking a sip of her coffee, and then a bite of fries. "I had coffee with Jess yesterday."

"Oh, and what happened there?"

"We talked… worked things out."

"How do you mean, 'worked things out', Rory?"

"He's my date to our party."

"What happened to Finn?"

"I don't know! I thought everything was going perfect – I even subtly hinted about a date for the party and he just.. he didn't pick up on it. I don't know – I don't really care."

"Really care? Rory, you were smitten by this guy – what changed?"

"I guess we just weren't on the same page."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Rory sighed, rubbing her forehead, and resting her elbows on the table, "It's not like I was thinking marriage with him."

"Are you sure you want to get involved with Jess again?"

"No," Rory answered honestly, leaning back in her chair, and crossing her legs, narrowing her eyes at the window. "Why won't they leave me alone? Ugh! Luke!"

Throwing his dish towel over his shoulder, he leaned against the counter, looking Rory and Lorelai's direction, "Yeah, Ror? 'Nother refill?"

"They're outside again!"

"Assholes!" Luke growled, throwing his dish towel down, and storming towards the door, opening it, and slamming it closed behind him.

"Are you ever afraid that one day someone or something is going to push Luke over the top and he's just going to go on a killing spree?"

Lorelai shook her head, and watched Luke yell, and shake his fist at the photographers. She laughed, and took a bite out of her burger, shaking her head while swallowing, "Nope." She grinned, and looked back to Rory, "Because that's not a cause to be afraid – that's a cause to laugh."

Rory shook her head, and sighed, "What a Gilmore."

"You know it, babe."

---GG---

Well my honey's so funny she's money she never means to undermined

She knows I love my job

But I love her more

So it makes no difference

Either long distance or over time

She's mine

She loves her wine

And fine dining

She's so sweet oh so petite

Oh so completely entertaining

She holds my hand

We love to dance

Oh so romancing

She is mine

---GG---

"Thank you so much for coming," Rory smiled, ushering the guests into the Vanderbilt (now Gilmore) Estate. She turned to her mother as she closed the door behind the Malone family, widening her eyes and letting out a long breath. "Now I understand why most people have their maids open the door."

"Well let's run away and let the maids answer it from now on."

"You're on."

Rory and Lorelai walked away from the door, their cocktail dresses swooshing and swaying all the way towards the very core of their party. Rory bit her lip, and let her eyes scan over the entire ball hall, holding her hands in front of her.

"He's over at the bar," Lorelai told her knowingly, patting her shoulder slightly.

"How do you know I was looking for Jess?"

"Oh, well – I didn't, I thought you were looking for Finn."

"Mom," Rory groaned, stomping her heel slightly on the marble, "We're just friends."

"Who make out."

"Mom."

"And go on dates."

"Mom!"

"And almost have hot, crazy, steamy sex on couc---"

"_Mom_!"

"Yes?"

"Knock it off – I'll go talk to him if that's what you honestly want."

"What? Me? I'd never suggest a thing!"

"Bye," Rory mumbled, heading off towards the bar, excusing herself while brushing past guests.

She held her breath, pressing her stomach against the bar, watching the side of his face intently as he took a long drink from the glass he was holding. She frowned, letting her breath out, tapping her fingers against the wood of the bar, "Hey." She said moments later, resting her right elbow on the bar. "How are you?"

"Fine," he monosyllabically answered.

"Are you having fun?"

"Sure, kitten."

"Finn," Rory sighed, exasperatedly, as she grabbed a glass of wine off of a tray from a passing waiter. "What's wrong?" She asked, taking a sip of her beverage.

"Nothing."

"Liar."

Finn turned to her, setting his glass on the bar, and shaking his head, "Go back to your date."

"So your jealous."

"Why would I be jealous over you and that tosser?

Setting her glass down, Rory fought the urge to roll her eyes, and bit the inside of her lip. She had honestly thought of apologizing to him up until that last remark, "Well I suppose I'll leave you to your alcohol, right hand and that bimbo you brought."

Huffing, she turned, stalking away from him, on her way to find Jess where she'd seen him last.

Finn watched her go, a twinge of guilt underlining his slightly inebriated state. He shook his head, and ordered another Guinness, letting his eyes focus on the fairy lights hanging from the wood arbor over the doors that led out onto the terrace.

He groaned, bumping his head a bit roughly onto the bar. He needed to get fully intoxicated.

Finn turned his body around, so his back leaning against the bar would give him support. His eyes scanned over the ball hall, waiting for Rory to come across his gaze. He was a jackass, and he knew it – hell, the entire room probably knew he was a jackass just from the way they'd seen her walk away from him.

And there she was, wrapped in the arms of some guy he'd never met – but he was sure those two had had a past. Probably an ex-boyfriend, he was certain. He looked like a lowlife – and he was certain she wasn't pining after him.

Why pine after him when he was around, eh?

Finn watched as they danced, and she moved closer to the guy he didn't even know. "Figures," he muttered under his breath, cracking his knuckles, and grabbing his Guinness, downing half of it in one gulp.

"She doesn't like him, you know," Lorelai said, sideling up next to him, her eyesight set on Rory and Jess.

"I have no idea who you're talking about, love."

"Rory – she doesn't like Jess the way she likes you."

"So she wants to be involved with him, eh, love?"

Lorelai laughed, and shook her head, taking a deep sip of her wine, "You exotic men aren't very smart; and here I thought it was us Americans who were slow."

"I'm failing to grasp your point."

"She wants to hug you… she wants to kiss you… she wants to _love_ you," Lorelai sing-songed, patting his hand, and wandering off back to wherever she'd just come from moments ago.


	16. Money and Looks

**Chapter Sixteen** Money and Looks

---GG---

If you're the death of me darling,

I want to die

---GG---

"May I cut in?"

Rory turned, and shot Finn a look, unconsciously tightening her arms around Jess' neck. Jess watched as Finn stood there, waiting for a chance to dance with the girl in his arms. He laughed inwardly – how times had changed. "Yeah," he said, pulling away from Rory, taking her hand and kissing it, "I'll see you."

Rory groaned, and watched as Jess walked away from her, leaving her in the middle of the dance floor alone, leaving Finn to take Jess' now unoccupied place. He swept her into his arms, and rested his cheek against her temple, breathing lowly into her ear, as he tightened his grip, and swept her over the floor.

"I'm sorry," he breathed, "I should have asked you to be my date."

"Huh," Rory mumbled, growing uncomfortably content as Finn guided her around the hall.

"Kitten," he sighed, pressing a kiss to her temple, before pulling back slightly, "Please forgive me? The alcohol kills off my brain cells – I can't ever think straight… Especially around you, love."

Rory shrugged, pulling away from him, and grasping a hold of his hand. She stood there for a moment, taking in a deep breath, before leading him towards the terrace doors that Finn had been looking at earlier. Stepping into the cold, she walked to the railing, dropping Finn's hand.

She breathed in the cold, late December air, and thought about the last time she'd been on a terrace with a guy – and what had happened there. Propping her elbows on the railing, she glanced out over the acres upon acres of beautiful gardens, pathways, and fountains her family owned.

She bit her lip – taking in all that had changed about her in less then six months – she'd dated a guy she'd found revolting up until she slept with him. She was heartbroken and stalked by said guy, and she fell into deep, uncontrollable lust with the man she was standing on the terrace with.

Rory didn't chance a look his way, but rather, stared upwards, taking in the night sky. Rory Gilmore was different – she wasn't the society girl she was when her parents were married – she was the little girl Stars Hollow watched grow up with one difference. She had money—an enormous fortune. But somehow, Rory knew that she didn't know herself anymore.

"Love?" Finn said softly, walking behind her, and placing both of his arms on either side of her, encasing her against his body heart, and the cold railing. "I'm sorry," he whispered, pressing a kiss to her neck.

Rory sighed, and turned in his arms so she could face him, "Me too."

"You have nothing to be sorry for, kitten."

"I didn't like seeing you with your date."

Finn rose an eyebrow, and removed his left hand from the terrace railing, and pressed it against her cheek, cupping it. Rory liked that his hands weren't smooth, and untouched. They were chapped, and calloused, and rough. They felt perfect against her skin – the perfect amount of affection, and somehow they gave her comfort: like she knew he could protect her with his bare hands. "I know."

"I'm sorry, Finn. Truly sorry for saying what I said to you."

He nodded, "Likewise."

Sighing, Rory wrapped her arms tightly around Finn's neck, burying her head into his chest. She felt his arms encase her, and bring her closer to his body. She smiled slightly, liking how she fit perfectly in his arms. "I want to take things slow," she said, pulling away and looking up at him. "I don't…"she bit her lip, and closed her eyes, "I don't want to sleep with you… or anyone, for that matter, until I'm married."

"Kitten…"

"I mean, I can't say I'm a virgin, because we both know that's not true. But I don't want to have sex… Period. Even if I'm not going to be married for ten years – I don't want sex to be a part of my rela—"

"Love, it's fine. I understand," Finn said, kissing the corner of her mouth, letting his hands rest on her hips.

"Are you just saying that?"

"No," he laughed, pulling her flush against him, "do me the honor of being my Sheila?"

Rory laughed, and nodded, "I'd love to be your… Sheila, Finn."

"Good, now that that's settled – how about a rendezvous in my bedroom?"

"Finn!" Rory cried, smacking the back of his head. "What did I just say?"

"I was kidding." He told her, adding, _bloody women_, under his breath as he guided her back inside into the Ball Hall.

---GG---

"Bump chicka bow wow!" Lorelai called as she watched Rory walk towards her, "How was the make up sex?" Lorelai laughed as Rory walked towards her later on that evening, a glass of wine in hand, and Finn left behind to talk to Logan and Colin.

Rory shook her head, and shrugged, "We didn't have sex."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not going to have sex until I'm married."

Lorelai snorted, and coughed, sending the wine she'd just taken a sip of to go straight to floor. She looked at Rory quizzically, and shook her head, "But you're not a virgin!"

"I know," Rory said, taking a deep of her own wine, before shrugging, "But I just want to wait to sleep with anyone else until I know it's the right guy."

"I'll never understand your logic, kiddo," Lorelai said, linking her arm with Rory's and shaking her head, "So, hopefully all these rich, snobby people will leave soon."

"_We_'re rich, snobby people."

"Yes, but we were fortunate."

"How so?"

"We were born with money _and_ looks."

"Oh, how right you are," Finn said, stepping up behind them, and wrapping his arm around Rory's waist, "Two beautiful women, and all for me. I must have been a saint. in a past life."

"Or a pain in the ass," Rory mumbled, kissing his cheek, before pulling at from him, linking her arm with her mother's again, "I'll see you in a bit. I want to spend some time with my mom."

Finn nodded, and shrugged, "And I'll go lose all since of sobriety with Logan and Colin. Ah, excuse me, a glass of Guinness is calling my name."

Rory laughed, and watched him go before turning back to her mother. "Do I hear wedding bells? Dum, dum, dum – here comes the bride!"

"Ugh, and here we go."

---**THE END**---

I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to read this lovely piece of literature work on my behalf. I'd like to credit you all on keeping me motivated to continue writing this piece of work.

In past writings and times, I'd always start a piece of work – but never finish it.

I'm immensely proud that this is the first fanfiction I have ever wanted to finish.

Thank you all for reading!

I would immensely appreciate reviews, praises and even put-downs about how this ended.

---Bethany---

**P.S.** There will be an epilogue will grace your presence in a week or so. And maybe even if you all are lucky, a sequel.


	17. The Epilogue

---**The Epilogue**---

Every once in a great while, there will be a great man who will sweep a remarkable woman with so much potential, off of her feet and into the sunset on his noble white stead. He'll be able to love her in ways that the woman could only imagine while she was a little girl, dreaming of her Prince.

"Rory," Finn whispered, kissing her ear as he watched her sleep. He'd arrived home from work hours ago, and he had just now grown tired of watching the beautiful woman he got to call his wife, sleep. "Rory, love…"

"Mmm," Rory mumbled incoherently, rolling over, and tossing her arm over Finn's waist. "When'd you get home?" she asked, her voice husky from hours of sleep.

"Hours ago," he told her quietly, slipping in her embrace, his thumb stroking her cheek. He watched as she opened her eyes, and gave him a loving smile. "Guess what—" he started, turning his head and looking at the clock on the nightstand. Reading it was now one eleven A.M., he turned back to her, a smirk intact, "today is."

Rory closed her eyes in thought, squinting her eyebrows, making a crease between her nose and forehead, before popping her eyes open, and laughing, "Our anniversary!"

"Three years," he sighed, pressing his forehead against hers, kissing her lips softly, and tenderly. "I love you, Rory Lifvergren."

"I love you more," she smiled, rolling closer to him in their large bed.

"I don't think that's possible, kitten," he purred, rolling quickly, and gently pushing her onto her back as he hovered over her, pressing kisses to her neck.

Rory laughed, arching her back upwards, her chest pressing against his. She wrapped her arms around his neck, clasping her left hand into her right, bringing Finn closer to her. She kissed his lips softly at first, before he reciprocated her actions, deepening their innocent kiss.

Rory groaned as Finn slipped his knee between her scantily clad legs, pressing into her core. He took that opportunity to slip his tongue into her mouth, reacquainting himself after hours of separation. Rory met him in a duel for passionate control, as she fumbled with the tie that had secured itself around Finn's neck. She pulled it away, throwing it to the side.

"Rory," Finn sighed, kissing her neck, as his hands worked their way up her pajama top, caressing a plain of warm, smooth flesh.

He slipped the offending piece of fabric off of his wife, and kissed the valley between her naked breasts. Rory moaned, arching her upper back upwards, while tearing his shirt off of him quickly. She pulled the belt out of the belt loops of his pants, and tossed it to the side quickly, before returning her hands to the button of his dress pants. She shoved them with her hands down his legs, leaving him to kick out of him, which he quickly did.

The rest of their clothes seemed to melt away as Finn kissed her breasts, and rubbed his hands over her thighs, and her hip bones. "Rory," Finn whispered into her ear, while nibbling softly on her ear lobe, "I want…" he groaned as he felt Rory's hands grope his hard length, "you… and me…" he groaned again as he started to pay attention to her actions.

"Hmn?" she whispered playfully, stroking him with both of her hands as she kissed a path of kisses over his shoulders and collar bone.

"I want to have a baby," he said, before he could find himself distracted by her hands yet again.

Rory pulled her hands away from him, and looked up at Finn, her heart thumping faster then it ever had in her life, including walking down the isle towards the man on top of her. "… What?" she asked, swallowing roughly, and blinking – her blue eyes scanning over his face.

He smiled slightly, and kissed the corner of her mouth, "I want to have a baby… with you, love."

"Finn," she breathed, cupping his face with her hands, focusing her eyes on his. She bit her lip, and furrowed her eyebrows, "Are you sure? … I mean, we could wait… we don't have to.. have a baby so soon…"

"Rory," he said softly, resting his forehead on hers, "I want this… I want you, and I want us to create something together… I want you to have my baby… I… God, kitten… I love you."

"Okay," she said, nodding… "Okay."

"Okay?"

"Let's have a baby… Let's…. wow… let's start our family.."

Finn grinned childishly, pressing a firm, passionate kiss on his wife's lips, as he rubbed his length against her center. Hearing her moan, he nudged her legs further apart, placing himself with his hand at her entrance. He looked at her, noticing her closed eyes, and her lower lip that was pulled into her mouth in anticipation. He smiled at her, knowing she couldn't see.

He pushed his entirety into her. He loved the way she gasped every time he'd initiate their love making – she way she'd be the one to push her hips into his, telling him without words that it was okay to continue. He loved the way they moved so well together.

He waited for the familiar press of her hips against his, which soon came. He began thrusting quickly, and hard into her, kissing her upper lip.

Rory moaned, scraping her nails up and down on his back, digging them into the small of his back, pressing down to feel more of her husband inside of her body. She pushed him up, and rolled over so she could lay over him, never letting him leave her core.

Finn groaned, and tilted his head back into the pillows, closing his eyes, his body writhing in pleasure as she rolled her hips forwards, and back. His hands gripped her hips, pulling her down, as his own hips thrusted upwards.

Rory moaned, and arched her back, her orgasm quickly coming.

Sex with Finn was never the same, never duplicated. Every time she slept with him, it was different: it was new, and it was exciting. She couldn't ever remember a time when she knew what Finn would do next: whether it was kissing every inch of her skin, and caressing her body with chapped hands that tickled, and scratched her everywhere they ventured.

Finn moaned, his climax peaking inside of her, not held back by latex like every time before. He felt Rory's warmth mix with his own as she collapsed onto him, her head nuzzling into the nook of his neck. He wrapped his arms around her, letting his hands trace lazy hearts over her smooth back, as he kissed her temple.

"Love," he purred, closing his eyes… "I've never loved you more then I do right now."

Rory smiled, kissing his neck, sleep coming quickly to her closed eyes, "I know." She said, smiling internally at the thought of carrying his baby for nine months inside of her body… "And I love you too."


End file.
